


Squid Sisters: Talent Show

by ToonThink



Series: Toon Think's Splatoon Universe [1]
Category: Splatoon
Genre: Comedy, F/M, Family, High School, Origin Story, Prequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:33:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 31,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23750116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToonThink/pseuds/ToonThink
Summary: Years before the events of Splatoon 1, 14-year-old Callie and Marie are struggling through high school life as they attempt to get their music career afloat. But when Cap'n Cuttlefish comes to them with an urgent mission involving the Great Zapfish, their lives are turned upside down forever, and their relationship as "Squid Sisters" will be tested.
Series: Toon Think's Splatoon Universe [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1515467
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	1. Tryouts

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all, Toon Think is back, this time with a brand new story. *pops party popper* This is something I initially came up with a year ago, and at the time, it was going to be a one-shot, but I simply came up with too many ideas for just that, and this is, finally, going to be the final story. With that said, this one will be a bit different from my other Splatoon stories, and in a way, is basically like "Splatoon 0" storytelling wise, while also being my first real attempt at a high school-based story. Much like my other stories, I'm getting a bit experimental and trying new and unique things for myself with this. It'll also be shorter than my other stories, only outlined to go up to 6 chapters (although that might change), so don't expect another big 20-chapter fic with this one, but I think it'll be fun nonetheless. Anyway, let us hop in.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Callie and Marie attend the high school tryouts. Meanwhile, Marie wins the affection of a boy in her school.

It was a dark, somewhat rainy night for Inkopolis, occasionally being lit up as lightning and then a crack of thunder ripped through the sky. For Marie, it was the perfect night to do… absolutely nothing. Nothing productive, at least. With a robe on, a glass of warm milk in her hand, a house arrest ankle device strapped to her leg, and a sigh, Marie lazily shuffled her feet across the carpet in boredom as she went back to her couch and sat down, pulling her laptop onto her lap.

She was indeed going through a bit of a rough patch. Things had recently gone sideways for the New Squidbeak Splatoon, and thus her by extension, and the whole situation had brought her mood way down. But worst of all, and what was making her the most depressed, probably, was the fact that she hadn't even seen her cousin, Callie, in a while. In months, actually. They called each other daily and stayed caught up, sure, but given the fact they were both under house arrest in different apartments, she couldn't just walk up to her and hug her anymore. It was torture. The only way Marie knew how to ease the depression at night, honestly, was to get on her laptop, and look at old videos of the Squid Sisters. Maybe their old performances, or videos they took to goof off. But today… she was in the mood to go back even further than the Squid Sisters.

Clicking on a folder titled **"CHILDHOOD"** , it immediately brought up a collection of videos, each having originally belonged to her grandpa, Cap'n Cuttlefish, that she managed to download onto her own computer. She hadn't even looked at them in so long. She clicked on the first one.

A pretty old, low quality video came up, with Cuttlefish holding the camera and pointing it at himself. He looked younger than Marie was used to. _"Ah, today… today is a very special day. For me. So I thought I would capture this on video. Maybe put it online, or whatever the… kids, like to do these days…"_ Cuttlefish started speaking. _"Yes, today, my two beautiful granddaughters, Callie and Marie, are going to be living with me. Some… circumstances, have happened, ones that I won't be talking about here, but the pretty young ladies are now going to be staying with me, and with each other for the first time, so it'll be like they're sisters. It's a very beautiful sight, I think they're already starting to get along. If you look in here…"_

He moved the camera and walked into the other room, where two small Inklings could be seen, probably around the age of 5, putting together a crossword puzzle.

_"Say hello to the camera, girls."_

_"Hi, camera!"_ The pink one said in a goofy tone.

_"Now, why don't you introduce yourselves?"_

The pink one ran to get up close to the camera. _"My name is Callie!"_

 _"And I'm Marie!"_ The green one followed.

 _"Marie is gonna be like my sister now!"_ Callie said, suddenly hugging Marie tightly.

Cuttlefish chuckled behind the camera, and the real Marie smiled slightly at her laptop. The video went on for a bit, as Callie, young Marie, and Cuttlefish talked back and forth about random subjects the girls wanted to go on about. Eventually, Cuttlefish took the camera and turned it back to himself. _"Well, there you have it, those are my beautiful granddaughters. Callie and Marie Cuttlefish. I couldn't be happier that they were even born into this world, and take it from an old Great Turf War veteran like myself, I think they're gonna grow up to do some great things. I really think they can. Especially under my leadership."_ He chuckled before the video cut off.

The real Marie sighed as she started through other videos. One specific one that got her attention was when she and Callie performed at the Youth Folk-Singing Contest, when they had just turned 14. She gave it a watch. She saw the performance, and then them winning the award, and then recalled how it actually was an opportunity for them to leave their home in Calamari County and move to Inkopolis, something that of course changed their lives forever.

And speaking of what happened after that, the next video was actually their next performance following that. A 3-minute video that had also been recorded by Cuttlefish, simply titled **"TALENT_SHOW"**. Now this one… this one brought back a lot of memories. As the memories flooded back to her, she clicked on the video.

* * *

**Years Ago**

**Inkopolis High School**

**Two Weeks Before the Talent Show**

**Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap…**

The somewhat low and subtle yet quite annoying tapping sounds filled the classroom, as Marie nervously tapped her foot against the floor and her pen against her desk, her eyes constantly darting from the sheet of paper on her desk to the clock on the wall. It was about… 3 hours from the end of the day. _Still._ She sighed in frustration; was it just her, or was the clock being extra slow today? Or was it always that slow?

She desperately wanted to pass the time, this was unbearable. Yet at the same time, she was actually pretty nervous for the end of the day. She was nervous yet excited. How was that even possible? Here she was, just your average 14-year-old Inkling sitting in class with feelings of excitement, nervousness, and just general restlessness building up inside. She sighed, deciding to silently promise herself she would just not watch the time. The day would end before she knew it if she focused on her work, right?

She stopped her tapping, adjusted herself in her chair, and returned her focus to her work. Then, after a moment of staring, she actually used her pen and started on some math problems. Yes, time was already moving a bit faster, she felt like… until she came to a mental roadblock and went back to staring. She sighed, mentally screaming at herself not to check the clock again.

…But, nope, she had to. She had worked long enough, right? Going right back to her restless state, her eyes darted back up to the clock (only about 30 seconds had passed), and she went right back to tapping nervously.

"Marie." A voice whispered to her. She looked back down from the clock and turned to her cousin, Callie, who was also 14 and sitting at the desk next to her left. "…Why are you tapping?"

"I can't focus." She whispered back.

"Well neither can I, stop it."

"You never focus anyway… my tapping is not affecting your work…"

"Touché, but fuck you."

"Fuck _you._ "

"Stop talking." Their teacher called out. "And stop that excessive tapping, you're gonna tap someone's ear off."

A couple students chuckled at the remark, and Marie looked at him, back at Callie, and then back at her own work with a sigh.

"Try to not lose your touch before tonight, Marie." Callie whispered again anyway.

Marie glanced at her in frustration.

What felt like another whole hour (actually just 20 minutes) passed before the school bell rang, and everyone immediately dropped what they were doing and stuffed their papers into their backpacks, before grabbing their books and getting up. Marie sighed in relief as she did.

The teacher stood up and spoke to them as the students in the room all started to leave. "Your homework tonight is to finish the calculus assignment, the 20-page algebra packet, the essay on-"

"Bye, Mr. Devor." Some student interrupted him, not even listening.

"Yes, bye. The essay on why math is important in life, _and_ to study extra hard because there may or may not be a calculus pop quiz tomorrow. Don't say I didn't warn you. Did… everyone…" He trailed off when he realized no one was listening and were already leaving the room. "Ok…" He sat back down and prepared for the next class.

Marie, meanwhile, did her usual walk down the hall to her locker, navigating her own way through the student traffic. She wasn't walking on her own for long, however, as Callie ran catch up with her.

"Hey!" Callie greeted enthusiastically.

"Hey." Marie replied.

"I'm gonna take it from the pen and foot tapping in class that you are nervous about the tryouts."

"Yes, Callie, I've actually been freaking out all day…" She admitted, taking a breath. "I didn't realize this would be so stressful…"

"Stressful? Come on! This is our dream!"

"That's what makes this stressful… I mean… what if we don't do good enough? What if Mr. Inkblot doesn't like us? We're ink in the water at that point."

"Come on, he's gonna love the Calamari Inkantation. He has to. The people at the Youth Folk-Singing Contest loved it."

"That was Calamari County. People there were more laid-back." She sighed. "…Here we are, in a high school in Inkopolis, surrounded by these uncultured idiots-"

"To pursue our dream." Callie interrupted. "And they're not uncultured. People in Inkopolis actually seem pretty cool. Just trust me, I have a really good feeling about this."

"If you say so…" Marie sighed, as she reached her locker. She unlocked it and started to swap out her books.

"And hey, I know just how to cheer us up." Callie said, looking at a boy who was at his own locker.

Marie didn't even need to hear it; she already knew what she was talking about and was thinking the same thing. As soon as she had her book for her next class, she turned around to look at the same boy. He was probably the most attractive boy in the whole school, with a yellow hipster haircut, a cap, fair-sized muscles, and somewhat tan skin just to top things off. Unfortunately for them, however, basically every girl in the school already had a crush on him, and as a result, he usually had a group of girls following him when he was in the halls.

The cousins stared him down lovingly as he got things from his locker. "…I didn't even tell you the good news yet." Callie said.

"...What good news?"

"I got to walk with him a bit this morning." Callie said, suddenly giggling out of excitement. "His name is Josh, and he's a hardcore Turf War player. He's up there in the level 40s."

"Oh, he plays Turf War…" Marie repeated as if that was the most attractive thing ever, putting her hand on her own chest.

"Hell yeah. Maybe we can get him to play with me sometime. I-I mean us."

They watched as Josh closed his locker and then walked by, his army of girls following him. He locked eye contact with Callie, and then winked at both the girls. Marie immediately blushed, while Callie giggled in excitement again.

"I told you people in Inkopolis are cool. Anyway, stay fresh, Marie. I'll see you at the tryouts." Callie continued, before suddenly taking off to join the group of girls.

"Callie, wait!" Marie called out after her, before quickly giving up and watching them leave. She felt incredibly tempted to follow them, but then did some quick thinking with herself in her head. She did not need stupid attractive boys like that in her life, especially since half the school was already into him. Besides, she had already swore to herself that she would be more mature about her own dating life when she was ready. And she wasn't ready now, she had a talent show to worry about.

Hearing the one-minute bell ring at that moment, she shoved her thoughts aside, before rushing to her own next class.

* * *

The rest of the school day went by the same; unbearable waiting times, lots of foot and pen tapping, multiple teachers telling her to stop said tapping, and finally, the last class of the day, which she happened to share with Josh. This class usually went by the same as the other ones, except Marie usually spent just as much time glancing at Josh as she did glancing at the clock. Usually, Josh didn't acknowledge her back. Until today.

After about the 20th glance at Josh today, Marie noticed that occasionally, Josh was glancing back in her direction. She looked around, just to double check there wasn't any girls nearby that he might've been looking at instead, but nope. Unless he was gay, it was just her. She blushed hard, getting a bit shaky. It only got worse, too, as when Josh gave another glance and saw her blush, he actually _winked_ in her direction. He _winked_!

A small, excited squeal accidentally escaped her mouth as she tried to play it as cool as possible, but instead, she accidentally knocked her water bottle off her desk. Now the entire class was looking at her.

The teacher was looking at her too, and sighed. "…Marie, if you spent as much time working as you did staring at your crush, you'd be a straight A student. So why don't you get back to that work, hm?"

The class laughed at her, and she sank down in her seat out of pure embarrassment, only blushing harder. She glanced at Josh one last time, who was actually giving a nice, reassuring smile in her direction, as if to calm her down and tell her it was ok. She couldn't help but smile back.

But finally, soon after that, the school bell rang, officially concluding the school day. Once again pushing Josh out of her mind, Marie was the first one in the class to eagerly get up, scoop up her things, and rush out of class, running to her locker as fast as possible. Josh, who looked like he was about to go over and talk to her, stopped as he watched this, surprised.

* * *

As soon as Marie got her stuff put away in her locker, she rushed to the backstage room by the auditorium, where the day's after-school event was taking place: The Talent Show Tryouts. Marie, thanks to how fast she rushed there, was the first one there, and she took a seat in the group of chairs that had been set up in front of a portable chalk board. It wasn't long before the rest of the kids came in, including Callie.

"Hey, Marie! So, uh… I have good and bad news. Which one do you want first?" Callie said as she sat next to her.

"Um… I'll take the good news first." Marie shrugged.

"Ok. So. Good news is I got to talk to Josh yet again, and he actually, like, seemed into me!"

"Wow… t-that's cool…" Marie immediately flashbacked to when Josh winked at her in the last period. "…Did you… say anything about me?" She decided to ask.

"I told him a couple basic things about you. But don't worry, I told him more about myself. I flirted with him. He gave me another wink. My hearts are still pounding." She grinned.

"...Of course he did…" She sighed. She was a bit disappointed that he wasn't just winking at her alone, but she had to remember, she shouldn't be jealous. She had to be mature about things like this. "…What's the bad news?"

"The bad news is, Gramps had something come up and he was unable to finish our costumes we were working on in time for when he was supposed to deliver them."

"Oh no…" Marie sighed again. "…We're just gonna perform in our normal clothes?"

"I guess so. But don't worry. These are just tryouts. The real deal isn't until the actual show, don't forget."

"I don't know, I heard Mr. Inkblot can be picky…"

Speak of the devil, at that moment, a teacher walked in. "Alright, students, attention." He walked up to the chalkboard, standing in front of the group of students. Everyone gave him their full attention, moreso than they gave in the usual class. "May I personally welcome you all to the Inkopolis Talent Show Tryouts. I am, as you all know, Mr. Inkblot. I am the son of Cornelius Inkblot himself, who happens to be the proud founder and owner of the Inkblot Art Academy." He put a picture of the college up to the chalkboard, taping it, under where someone had written **TALENT SHOW TRYOUTS** with chalk.

A couple students cheered. Callie and Marie both smiled.

"That's right. As you all should know, only about half of you will make it into this talent show, hosted exclusively by me. And only the most talented of this group will be offered the very special chance to attend my father's proud school when you graduate, for free."

More students cheered this time, while Marie grew a bit more nervous.

"Do you have what it takes to soar like in a super jump? Or will you sink and dissolve, like a poor squid caught in the river? Do you have the strength to find out?"

No. Marie wasn't sure she had the strength to find out if she had the strength. Her paranoia was really getting to her now. Callie, meanwhile, looked as eager as ever.

"Yeah, let's do this!" Callie suddenly cheered. Marie glanced at her.

Mr. Inkblot smiled. "I like that attitude. Make sure you bring your best performances, and I will call you out one a a time. Good luck."

"We are so gonna knock this out of the park…" Callie grinned.

Marie looked at her. She could sure use that confidence right now. "…Yeah. We will." She forced out.

* * *

Several students were called to do their performances first Most of them, actually. Callie and Marie were practically sitting alone, with only a few students left waiting, before they finally heard their names called. "Callie and Marie!"

They looked at each other, Callie grinning. "This is it! You ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be…" Marie stood up with her, and they walked through the curtains onto the stage. The auditorium was mostly empty, except for them and Mr. Inkblot, who was sitting in the front row. To Marie's dismay, Mr. Inkblot looked pretty bored at this point.

"Uh oh… we've been waiting too long… he looks bored…" Marie said.

"Nonsense! We'll lighten his mood right up." Callie replied, and they got centered on stage.

"Introduce yourselves." Mr. Inkblot said.

"I'm Callie."

"I'm Marie."

"But you can call us…"

"The Squid Sisters!" They said in unison, striking a pose they had made up the previous day. To their dismay, however, Mr. Inkblot didn't seem to find it that cute.

"Um… we'll be performing a song we personally remastered, called Calamari Inkantation." Marie continued, a bit more awkwardly.

"And, uh, just to clarify, we were supposed to be wearing costumes…" Callie added. "But, our Gramps couldn't finish them in time. Heh, silly Gramps… Just try to imagine us in cute outfits, alright?"

"Just get on with it." Mr. Inkblot said, looking more and more impatient. He suddenly started the song, or at least the incomplete demo instrumental of it.

"Oh, I guess we're starting." Callie blurted out as the opening notes to Calamari Inkantation came on. They immediately both got into position. As soon as their part started, they started singing their lines, and started the dance moves they had rehearsed. Unfortunately, however, perhaps due to how nervous Marie was, they weren't as in sync as they were supposed to be, and it was actually ruining their performance. It relied too much on them dancing together. Mr. Inkblot appeared bored through the whole thing, and was even glancing at his watch.

As soon as he song ended, Callie and Marie looked at each other, able to tell that he didn't like it. Now even Callie looked nervous. "…Um… can we try again?"

"No. I've seen enough." Mr. Inkblot replied. "Thank you for your participation."

"...I think we can do better if you let us try again…" Marie insisted. "I was still getting used to it…"

"Well, you had all of the last month to prepare, did you not?"

"...Yes…"

"Exactly, so being unprepared is our own fault. Also, just a pointer, um… your tentacles lack color. You might want to fix that. Just in general. Your current hair colors aren't appealing."

"What?" Callie replied.

"Yours is white, and yours is black. Most kids these days usually have their own naturally pretty colors, as you should know. I mean, look at my turquoise hair."

"...M-Mine is silver…" Marie replied.

"Our natural ink colors are purple and green." Callie clarified. "And our costumes were going to have those colors as well…"

"Well, I don't see any costumes. Or those colors." Mr. Inkblot replied. "I'm just saying. You want people to like you… you need to show off the pretty colors. Not black and white."

"Silver." Marie corrected again, looking insulted.

"Whatever. I need you to leave now, please, there are other students waiting."

Callie and Marie looked at each other, both looking embarrassed, before they awkwardly obliged and stepped off stage.

"God, I cannot believe Mr. Inkblot…" Marie ranted as they went back to collect their backpacks before heading out to the school hall. "Glanced at his watch our whole performance and then has the nerve to insult us…"

"...To be fair, I don't think we were entirely in sync…" Callie replied.

" _Why_ are you defending him?"

"I'm just… saying…"

Marie sighed. "…Look, um… if we really did just blow our chances of getting into the talent show, we should just forget it, then… forget the whole 'Squid Sisters' thing…"

"I don't want to do that."

"Neither do I, but you know what? We've been putting too much effort into this shit and it's starting to turn out to be for nothing." She sighed. "…People liked us back in Calamari, but they don't like us here… people here just don't care about us… Maybe… maybe we shouldn't have moved here…"

"Gramps moved us here for a reason."

"I don't care anymore. I… I want to go home, Callie… I'm sorry, but Calamari County was so much nicer… Inkopolis is just… filled with assholes…"

Callie looked down, before opening her mouth to say something, without actually having a response. At that moment, her phone started ringing. Breaking her conversation with Marie, she pulled it out and looked at it, before answering. "Hello?" She pulled the phone from her ear to talk to Marie. "It's Gramps."

"What does he want?" Marie asked, before her eyesight suddenly caught something. Callie just texted Cuttlefish back.

Callie returned to the phone conversation. "Yeah, wassup?" A pause, before she turned back to Marie. "Gramps says he wants to meet us for something important." Callie continued.

Marie was no longer listening, however. Her sights were set on something else. "…Cool."

Callie turned around to see what she was looking at, and saw Josh, who looked like he was waiting for them. "Oh, hey, Josh!" She suddenly called out.

Josh waved back.

Callie turned back to Marie. "…I wanna talk to him."

"No. Go talk to Gramps." Marie replied, not taking her eyes off Josh.

Callie frowned. "…You better not steal him…"

"Why would I 'steal' him? I already made a silent oath to be mature with stuff like this…"

Callie didn't seem to believe her. "…Yeah, ok, sure…"

"I'll see you at the hotel room." Marie went over to talk to Josh

Callie just sighed, not even watching her walk off, instead putting her phone back to her ear to talk to Cuttlefish. "I'm on my way." And with that, she hung up, looked back at Marie a last time, and walked off.

Marie walked up to Josh, before awkwardly standing in front of him, gripping her backpack strap a bit out of nervousness. "…H-Hey…"

"Hey." Josh replied, with a warm, friendly, and ridiculously gorgeous smile. "You're Marie, right?"

She blushed. "…Y-You know my name… you know my name?"

He nodded. "I talked to your sister earlier. She talked about you."

"...My sister?"

"Callie."

"Oh… she's not my sister."

"Oh?"

"We're actually cousins. But, we were raised together and we live together, s-so… yeah, we're _like_ sisters. W-We actually called ourselves the Squid Sisters… as our stage name. Mr. Inkblot didn't like it…"

He chuckled. "Squid Sisters, I like that. It's got a ring to it."

"...Y-You really think so?"

"Hell yeah. Besides, you and your cousin, are pretty cute. I'm sure you'll make a great team."

That was it. That was all it took to send Marie's body into chaos. Her mind was racing, her breathing was heavy, her hearts were racing, other things were happening, she wasn't sure she could stand it.

"Do you wanna… hang out tonight?" Josh continued.

"...T-Tonight?"

He nodded. "I wanted Callie to come, but if she's not available…"

Marie had to keep herself from passing out. "...W-Where at? W-What are we doing?"

"I mean…" Josh looked around to make sure no one was listening or looking. "Don't tell anyone, but I… maybe brought a drink with me. Just for an occasion like this, with a sweet girl like you."

Marie somehow blushed even harder than she was already blushing. "…You mean like… chocolate milk…?"

He shook his head and opened up his backpack a crack, just barely allowing her to see that there was a bottle of something that looked… a lot like alcohol. Wait… this guy brought alcohol to school? She looked back up at him, her eyes widening a bit.

"So what do you say?" Josh asked.

Marie was screaming at herself in her head to not do it. To go back to her initial plan of being mature about things like this. And yet… she was also very curious to what that stuff tasted like. Despite a moment a silence, and her begging herself not to do it, she ended up croaking out a weak "Yes…"

"Great!" Josh closed his bag back up and slung it around his shoulder. "Then it's a date."

The hell? They just met and they were going on a date now? "…A-A date…?"

"Mhmm." He held out his hand.

Marie stared at it. She had already accepted it. No turning back now. Hesitantly, she took it.

* * *

A few hours passed, and the sun was already setting over the now chilly Inkopolis. Marie had admitted to Josh that she was fairly new to the city, and in response, Josh had been taking her around, showing her the many sights the city had to offer, hand-in-hand the whole time. It was actually pretty pleasant. Eventually, once they had enough, Josh brought them to an alleyway where they could get some privacy, and they sat down.

"A bit gross back here…" Marie complained.

"You'll get used to it. I just wanted to bring you somewhere more private so that…" Josh pulled the bottle from his backpack. "Ta-da. We can finally try this."

"...I-I was starting to think you forgot…"

"Not at all." He popped it open and took a swig, apparently already used to it. Marie watched as he did, before he handed it to her. "Come on, try it."

Marie stared at it, frozen, before she shakily took it, and continued to stare at it.

"Come on…" Josh pressured.

She looked at him, and back at the bottle. Back at him, then back at the bottle. Opening her mouth slightly, she decided to bring it to her mouth, and reluctantly took in a sip. Her eyes widened as it went down her throat, and she immediately put it down. "Bleh, it burns!"

He just laughed. "Again, you get used to it."

She wiped her mouth. "People really drink this stuff?"

"Uh huh. Lots of people. It's totally fresh."

"...Fresh…?" She looked back at the bottle.

"You're fresh, right?"

Of course she was fresh. How could she not be fresh? She had to _stay_ fresh. She looked at him again, before deciding to brave it again, and took in another sip. And another one. And another one. Josh cheered her on, and she was starting to take in more and more with each sip.

"Told you you'd get used to it!" He continued.

After a bit of his, Marie looked at him, already feeling a bit tipsy. "…Um… can I ask you something…?"

"Hm?"

"...You have, like… a million girls that follow you around in the hallways each day… I wasn't even one of them… why did you ask _me_ out…?"

Josh smiled again, thinking of a response. A rather… half-baked, bullshit one, actually. "…Because I could tell from the moment I spoke to your sister, and as soon as I saw your white hair… I think it was love at first sight…"

"...Cousin… and it's silver…" She corrected again. "…You… really love me…?"

"Yes, I actually think we might be soul mates here."

"Soul mates…? We only met like a few hours ago…"

"What's wrong with love at first sight?"

Marie didn't respond.

"Do you need me to prove it?"

"...Prove it how…?"

"Close your eyes."

She awkwardly closed them, and the next thing she knew, his lips were pressed against hers, and she blushed heavily, her eyes opening again. She didn't know what was getting into her. Maybe it was just how attractive he was. Maybe it was the alcohol. But now, she couldn't help but close her eyes and return her first ever kiss. He put his hands on her hips, and she put his hands on her shoulders, as Josh led the kiss. After a few moments, they soon broke off.

"...Wow…" Marie spoke, feeling like she was on cloud nine. "…That… felt nice…"

He nodded. This clearly wasn't even his first rodeo.

But Marie didn't care. She suddenly took a larger swig from the bottle, before leaning forward and kissing him again.

* * *

It was getting a bit later into the night when Marie finally got back to her hotel room, and lazily reached to unlock the door, giggling like a drunk idiot the whole time. Josh was following, eager to get them inside.

"Weee… we neeed more alcohoool…" Marie giggled, struggling to get the door open.

"Open the dooor…" Josh whined, leaning against the nearby wall. "I wanna kiss you moree…"

"Saaame..." It took a good couple minutes, and she dropped the keys a few times, but soon was able to unlock it, and he dragged her inside. The lights were all off, signifying that no one was there.

Marie decided to check anyway. "Callie! Yooo, Callieeee!"

"Callieeee!" Josh relayed.

No response. "Awww, we tried…" Marie shrugged and closed the door, before stumbling into the living room.

Josh followed, and suddenly pulled her close. "Kissy time…"

"Kissy tiiime…" She giggled as she started making out with him again, lazily dropping her backpack, unaware that someone was watching them. They were both unaware.

After a moment, Josh started getting more aggressive with his movements, and even started pulling her shirt up a bit, at least until he suddenly went limp and collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Confused, Marie stared down at him, her vision a bit blurry. "…Josh… Jooooosh?" She was just barely able to see something sticking out of his back. She blinked to clear her vision. It looked like some sort of… dart. "…Are you dead…?" She asked.

"Marie Cuttlefish." A feminine voice suddenly spoke to her, although it sounded like she was trying to deepen it to sound masculine. Marie jumped to see that there was actually someone there, sitting on the couch with a tranquilizer gun. She was wearing a hoodie and a mask over her face. "He's not dead. Merely unconscious."

Marie blinked. "...Oh, that's good to know… um… who are you…?"

"My name is not important right now. You will find out in time."

"...Ok… so… who are you…?"

She ignored her question. "I require your help. The city, and life as we know it, is in danger. I'm going to need you to come with me."

"...Yeah, but… who are you…?"

"Oh, for the love of…" She suddenly pulled down her mask, speaking with her regular voice. "Psst! It's me, Callie! Listen, there's a lot I'm gonna need to explain to you later, but for now, I just need you to hold still, because this might sting a little. Ok? You ready?"

"...Ready for wha-" She stopped talking as a dart suddenly penetrated her chest, and she looked down at it, confused and already dizzy. "…What is…?" As she attempted to grab and pull it out, the dizzy feeling quickly got more intense, and then… nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, for those of you who read both this and A3:E, like I mentioned before, my current plan is to juggle those two stories for a bit, as in I'm going to be alternating between these with each chapter, since I really want to get both done. No idea if this will work out in my favor, especially since I'm just starting, but at the same time, it'll be temporary anyway, so we'll see how I can handle it. Leave a review if you liked it, or if you didn't, I don't care, and I will see you next time. *waves*


	2. Heroes for Hire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Callie meets with Cap'n Cuttlefish about an important task.

**Earlier**

"I don't care anymore. I… I want to go home, Callie… I'm sorry, but Calamari County was so much nicer… Inkopolis is just… filled with assholes…" Marie complained.

Callie looked down, before opening her mouth to say something, without actually having a response. At that moment, her phone started ringing. Breaking her conversation with Marie, she pulled it out and looked at it, before answering. "Hello?"

_"Hello, young lady."_ Cap'n Cuttlefish's voice said back to her.

"It's Gramps." She told Marie.

"What does he want?" Marie responded.

She returned to the phone. "Yeah, wassup?"

_"I was hoping to grab you and your cousin for a quick talk at my place. I wanna discuss something pretty important with you. Very important, actually."_

A little _'uh oh'_ rang through her head before she again spoke to Marie. "Gramps says he wants to meet us for something important."

To her dismay, Marie was staring at something else, and only responded with a half-hearted "Cool…"

She squinted a little and turned around to follow her eye, noticing that Josh was standing around as if he was waiting for them. "Oh, hey, Josh!" She couldn't help but blurt out.

Josh waved back.

She turned back to Marie. "…I wanna talk to him."

"No. Go talk to Gramps." Marie replied, not taking her eyes off Josh.

She frowned. Was she actually about to let this happen? "…You better not steal him…"

"Why would I 'steal' him? I already made a silent oath to be mature with stuff like this…"

She didn't believe her. In fact, she was aware that she and Marie needed to talk to Cuttlefish now. But she decided against saying anything, not wanting to annoy her cousin further. "…Yeah, ok, sure…" She responded, a hint of disappoint in her voice that Marie didn't even notice.

"I'll see you at the hotel room." Marie went over to talk to Josh, rudely pushing past her.

She sighed and looked down, only now noticing that Cuttlefish was still trying to talk to her. _"Callie? Young lady? You there? Dag nabbit, is this thing working?"_

She gulped a bit and held the phone back up to her ear, responding with an also rude "I'm on my way" before she hung up. She looked back at Marie a last time, and then walked down the hall.

* * *

**Knock, knock, knock**

Callie awkwardly kicked her feet one at a time against the welcome mat in front of Cap'n Cuttlefish's apartment, where she waited for about a minute in silence. She looked around, and then decided to get on her phone real quick to check social media. Specifically, she checked Marie's profile, just to see if she was posting any pictures of her and Josh or if she was updating her relationship status or anything.

…Ok, nothing, perhaps she was just being paranoid. Which was fine, being paranoid was perfectly fine and healthy, right? Then, she decided to locate and look at Josh's profile as well, where to her dismay, it did list that he was **"In a relationship"**. …That was outdated, right? It had to be outdated. Then she scrolled down, seeing that he had posted several pictures of him hanging out with, and even kissing, all sorts of girls their age.

Oh no. She kept scrolling.

…Oh no… there were so many… How many girlfriends did he even have? How many _could_ he have?

At that moment, her search was interrupted as Cuttlefish finally opened the door. "Young lady!"

She looked up at him and smiled. "Gramps!" She real quick sent a friend request to Josh, slipped her phone back in her pocket, and then stepped inside, hugging him.

Cuttlefish, who was clearly getting old, didn't really have the best posture these days. He was hunching more and more, and was getting shakier, looking like he might need some kind of cane soon. "How are you?"

"I'm good. Um…" She noticed his shaking, not so used to it. "…Are you ok?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah, perfectly. You know me, just gettin' old." He chuckled a little. "Come inside."

"Aight." She smiled and went into the living room.

Cuttlefish looked around. "…Where's Callie?"

"I'm right here."

"Oh, right. I meant where's Marie?"

She sighed. "She's… busy… with homework…"

"Right." He nodded and closed the door. "I was hoping to see both of ya… tell me… how did the tryouts go?"

"Good." She lied, her usual big grin coming on. "Um… awesome, actually! Totally knocked it out of the park! As usual, I was the saving grace, and I carried the whole performance, and I think that Mr. Inkblot totally loved us!"

"That's real good to hear! But come on, don't be like that, you and Marie are both excellent."

"Perhaps, but I'm better." She giggled.

He couldn't help to chuckle as well. "Can't wait to see the talent show, young lady. You're gonna be the best performance."

She nodded, a bit awkwardly now, as truthfully, she wasn't so sure they were even gonna make it at this point.

"Anyway… I'll have to talk to Marie about this later, but for now, do you wanna follow me to the other room?" He pointed down the hall.

"Ok." She shrugged, before following him.

Cuttlefish led her to a seemingly random room, and Callie looked inside. To her surprise, it was filled with… a bunch of random Great Turf War junk. Pictures of him, pictures of his old group, including Sheldon's grandfather, and other random collectibles he seemingly picked up over the years.

Cuttlefish stood there watching her, eagerly, as if he was super excited to finally be showing her all this. Callie, however, wasn't so entertained. "…I don't get it."

"What don't you get? I call this… the Great Memory room. I come in here whenever I wanna remember the old days."

"Yeah, the old days as in races fighting for Inkopolis' territory, ink and death getting spread everywhere, and a disturbing lack of cell phones. Why would _anyone_ want to look back on that?"

"Don't you learn about it in school?"

"Yeah, but I usually zone out during that."

He shook his head in disappointment. "No wonder you have a D in history…"

"At least it's not an F." She shrugged.

"That's not even what I wanted to show you…" He pointed to the table, and Callie looked over. On it, was what looks to be a work in progress black jacket, with a bright yellow safety vest right next to that.

Callie walked over to it and picked up the jacket part. It looked strangely like it was made to fit her. "…Is this my size?"

He nodded. "I'm making one for Marie as well."

"Really? What's it for?"

"Armor."

She looked over the safety vest part as well. "…Um… are these for turf war or something? Because, honestly, I'm not sure I like the style. It doesn't suit me. Well… maybe if you remake it in purple…"

"It's not for turf war, and in fact, I'd prefer you not wear this in public if possible."

"...Why not?"

He looked up at the pictures. "…Young lady, have I ever told you exactly what I did back during the Great Turf War days?"

"...Yes, a million times. Not sure I remember all of it, though. Um… but you're ignoring my-"

"Then you remember the part where I was the proud leader of a resistance group called the Squidbeak Splatoon."

"Yeah, the name sounds familiar. But, seriously, what does that have to-"

"Just let me talk and I'll explain. Callie… I'm not gonna sugarcoat this. The Octarians are back."

She actually grew a bit nervous. "…Octarians as in the evil guys you forced underground?"

"They're not evil, but yes. For the first time in almost 100 years, I've picked up data that suggests they are coming back. And they have a plan to get revenge."

"Revenge?" She started panicking. "Are we entering another Great Turf War? Are they gonna use nukes this time? Are we gonna die!?"

"No, no, no, none of that, relax. But regardless, this could be bad for Inkopolis. Everything we fought to protect in that war could be undone if we don't play the right cards."

"...Well, what are they doing?"

"I've been monitoring direct feeds from my old friend, now the ruler of the Octarian society, Octavio." He went over to another table with a drawer and opened it, revealing pictures of some key Octarians, including Octavio. "They've been planning an undercover operation involving the theft of all our Zapfish. Initially, I thought we had time to deal with this. Maybe I could form a new team and not put my grandchildren in danger. The problem with that is… they're already in action. Last week, they sent their top elite, an Octoling named Evelyn, and her team to the city. " He pulled out a picture of the black-haired Octoling, who had what looked like seaweed in her hair and bizarre goggles on. "I didn't find out about it until today. I think they're going to make their move soon."

Callie looked it all over, no longer understanding the point as much. "…Ok? So, they're going for our Zapfish, so what? What happens if our Zapfish disappears? Don't we just breed more?"

"Yes, we can breed more, but the true problem arises when they get their hands on the Great Zapfish. That thing is our city's main source of power. As it's impossible to just breed a new Great Zapfish. If they manage to steal it from us, our city would run out of power in a matter of days."

"...And then what?"

"Imagine anything and everything you know and come to rely on in modern society involving electricity suddenly crumbling down overnight. It'd cause a whole truckload of sudden problems, including mass hysteria, riots, and I suspect, mass panic-buying of toilet paper."

"...Toilet paper?"

"Under no circumstances can we allow Evelyn and her team to acquire the Great Zapfish. It would unleash chaos on us all."

"So, what are looking at me for!? Go stop them! Come on, you're the war veteran here!"

"I wish it was that simple, Callie, but I can't. My old squid body is getting old and fragile these days…" He sat down. "Honestly, I think I might just need a cane soon."

"So then… call the military."

"That's risky and if the information of an attack gets out, it _will_ fuel mass hysteria anyway. We need to see to this privately. Which is why I was going to assemble a team I can trust to get this done for me, but not even Sheldon wanted to get physically involved, and now… we're out of time. That's what I called you for."

She looked at him, surprised.

"Callie, you and Marie have been showing off your talent in those goofy yet skill-demanding ink sports. You've proven time and time again without even having to that you are worthy of combat and handling weapons."

"Yeah, like any other kids at our school."

"Young lady. I want you to be Agent 1. Of the _New_ Squidbeak Splatoon. The modern day team I am assembling to combat the Octarians and any other threats."

was actually pretty flattering. "…You mean like I'm gonna be a secret agent?"

He nodded.

"I'm gonna be a secret agent?" She asked again for clarification.

"Yes, young lady, I just-"

"Oh my god! I'm gonna be a secret agent!"

"Yeah, C-Callie, please rela-"

"And you asked ME of all people!? To be your highest ranking one!?"

"A-Actually, the title is just a number, it doesn't give you a ra-"

"EEEEEEEEEE!" She suddenly squealed. "This is so cool! This is like something that would happen in a movie! Except it's actually real and it involves _me_!"

"...Mhmm… it involves you…" He stood up, a bit dramatically. "Do you accept the ta-"

"Yes."

"...Are you sure? That quick? I haven't even-"

"Yes. Count me in. I am Agent 1. Reporting for duty!" She improvised a pretty goofy-looking salute, a grin on her face. She then looked back at the costume on the table. "Is that my uniform, then?"

"Yes, that is your uniform, but it's not finished yet. That'll provide defense for you once you start getting into combat."

"Finish it! I wanna wear it!"

"Listen, young lady. Heh… I get you're excited, but I already have an important mission for you."

She looked back at her. "Oh, shit, what?"

"First, watch your language, you're only 14. Second. I intended on getting both you _and_ Marie in on this. I think I'm going to need both of you. In fact, she was actually gonna be Agent 1…"

"But now _I'm_ Agent 1, so ha!"

"...Your first mission is to get Marie onboard as Agent 2. Bring her here. If she refuses to, then… um…" He reached into another drawer, looked around, and then pulled out a tranquilizer gun. "Use this."

She took it. "Oh my god, you want me to shoot her."

"Only in case of emergency. In fact, unless she's literally attacking you over it, um… please don't use it. And don't use it on anyone else, either. Just… take it for emergency."

She gave another goofy salute. "I'm on it! Agent 1, in action!"

He couldn't help but chuckle. "I love you, young lady. I know you'll do good in this. Now go out there and get her. I'll be waiting here."

"You got it!" She suddenly rudely turned and ran out.

As Cuttlefish stood there for a moment, he realized a potential mistake in giving her the tranquilizer like that. She tended to not really listen to warnings, after all. "…Don't forget to only use that weapon for emergen…!" He stopped talking as he heard the front door slam, followed by a super jump from outside. "…Uh oh…"

* * *

With the tranquilizer gun in hand, Callie made her way back to her hotel room, looked around, saw she was alone, and came up with her plan. She disguised herself in a hoodie and a mask, got into position, and waited. She didn't care so much if Cuttlefish only wanted her to use the gun for emergencies. She had her plan now and she was gonna stick with it.

She was actually waiting for quite a while, however, and she was nodding off a couple times as it started to get dark out. In fact, she thought she might've passed out for a good couple hours or so, because all of a sudden, it was _really_ dark out. She sighed and looked around again. Was Marie even coming? …She wasn't out with Josh, was she? Oh no… Now she straight up wished she hadn't gone to see Cuttlefish, and stayed with Marie instead. Yet… no. No! She was a secret agent now, and she had a job to do.

Several minutes passed, and she was actually about to give up when finally, she suddenly heard voices approach the hotel room, followed by the sound of someone fumbling with the lock. She ducked down, making sure she was hidden again.

"Callie! Yooo, Callieeee!" Marie's voice could be heard as she walked in.

Callie was about to come out, before she heard a male voice along with her. "Callieeee!" Wait a minute… was it Josh!? That sounded like Josh!

"Awww, we tried…" Marie continued.

"Kissy time…"

"Kissy tiiime…" She giggled.

That didn't sound good. Callie peeked her head out to see that, to her dismay, they were making out right there in the hotel room. She had to keep herself from gasping, watching for a moment as Josh started getting a bit more… sexual with his movements. She had to end this. She came out from her hiding spot, got into position while they were still distracted, aimed, and fired a dart right into Josh's back. He winced but didn't seem to notice for a moment, before awkwardly collapsing to the ground in front of Marie, unconscious.

"…Josh… Jooooosh?" Marie looked down at him in confusion. "…Are you dead…?"

Now it was her time to act. Lowering her voice as low as she could (not that low), Callie spoke, causing Marie to jump. "Marie Cuttlefish. He's not dead. Merely unconscious."

Marie blinked. She actually appeared pretty drunk. "...Oh, that's good to know… um… who are you…?"

"My name is not important right now. You will find out in time."

"...Ok… so… who are you…?"

"I require your help. The city, and life as we know it, is in danger. I'm going to need you to come with me."

"...Yeah, but… who are you…?"

"Oh, for the love of…" She suddenly pulled down her mask, speaking with her regular voice. "Psst! It's me, Callie! Listen, there's a lot I'm gonna need to explain to you later, but for now, I just need you to hold still, because this might sting a little. Ok? You ready?" She aimed her tranquilizer.

"...Ready for wha-" Marie stopped talking as Callie fired the dart into her chest. She looked down at it. "…What is…?" She tried to reach to pull it out, but suddenly went limp, falling backward onto the coffee table. Her body awkwardly slid off and onto the floor, knocking a couple things off with her.

"Ooh… sorry…" Callie winced and put her gun away as she stood up, taking off her mask. She looked around at the mess she just made, with a somewhat proud expression. Leaving Josh as he was, she went to pick up Marie, groaning as she did. "Jesus… you're heavy!"

Marie started drooling on her as she slung her over her shoulder, desperately struggling to carry her out.

* * *

**The Next Morning**

Marie gasped a bit as she finally awoke, a massive headache hitting her like a truck. She groaned, holding her head. "…Mother… fucker…"

"Hey, hey, easy young lady." She heard a voice say. "And watch your language."

She didn't even have to look to see who it was. "…Gramps…?"

"You're fine. You're at my place. There's something important I wanna talk to you about, but for now, just relax." Cuttlefish leaned over the couch.

She suddenly shot up, looking around. She was indeed in Cuttlefish' living room, and Callie was curled up sleeping in the nearby couch. She looked around some more, however, and there was something missing. "…Where's Josh!?"

"Who?"

"Josh! The cute boy! Where is he!?"

"I don't-"

"Marie…?" Callie sat up, having been woken up by her voice. "Oh, good, you're up… hey, Gramps. Marie's up."

Marie started hyperventilating, having no idea what was going on. "…W-What happened!?"

"Hey, relax, I just tranquilized you. And Josh. But don't worry, you're both fine."

"You TRANQUED US!?" She suddenly shouted. "WHY!?"

"Easy, young lady." Cuttlefish said calmly, handing her a bottle of tylenol. "Take these, you'll feel better."

Marie took it and swallowed a couple pills, before going right back to hyperventilating.

"Marie…" Callie continued.

"Where's Josh!?"

"Um… I left him back at the hotel room."

"You what!?"

"Look, I _had_ to dart you, alright?"

"No, you didn't…" Cuttlefish muttered.

"We have something really important to discuss with you, but you were out with him all night, and-"

"That was my first date, Callie!" Marie suddenly shot up, yelling. "MY PERFECT DATE! You ruined OUR PERFECT DATE!"

"It was… actually a date?"

"WHAT DO YOU THINK IT WAS!? SERIOUSLY!? YOU SERIOUSLY HAD TO GO OUT AND BUY A FUCKING TRANQUILIZER JUST BECAUSE YOU WERE JEALOUS THAT I WAS OUT WITH JOSH!?"

She sank back down in her seat. "…A-Actually, Gramps gave me the tranquilizer…"

"He WHAT!?" She spun around to look at him.

"I-I… no, I didn't." Cuttlefish lied.

"YOU WERE IN ON THAT!?"

"WOULD EVERYONE JUST RELAX, PLEASE!?" Callie shouted now, just to shut her up. When Marie finally shut up, she continued speaking. "That's not why I darted you."

"Oh, yeah? Why'd you dart me?"

"...Ok, yes, I did dart you partially because I saw you looked like you were about to get steamy, but-"

"I KNEW IT! YOU'RE RIDICULOUS!"

"BUT, if you'd let me talk, you'd know the main reason why I tranqued you was because we need to talk about something. Something important."

"If you say something related to puberty, I will actually smack you."

"What? No." She stood up. "We're trying to tell you that the city as we know it is in danger. Like, things could get bad if we don't do something soon."

"...What…?"

"Marie…" She smiled a little. "I want to talk to you about the Squidbeak Splatoon Initiative. The _New_ Squidbeak Splatoon Initiative."

Cuttlefish looked down, feeling like they completely botched the mission, while Marie just stared at Callie, in disbelief.

* * *

Only a couple minutes passed before Marie suddenly stormed out the front door, marching down the street back to the hotel.

"Marie!" Callie ran after her.

"Go away!" She didn't stop walking.

"Marie, I don't think you understand, if they get their hands on the Great Zapfish, our lives will be turned upside down more than it already is, and people could die!"

"Not my problem! Ask someone else!"

Callie cut in front of her, successfully stopping her. "Marie, please! This is important."

"It's a fucking fantasy. Move."

"There's nothing fantasy about it!"

"Then why does it sound made up!? You dart down me and my new boyfriend, during our perfect date, you dragged me to Gramp's place, and now you're telling me about a secret underground society of Octarians who are now hellbent on sending this stupid city into chaos."

"...Well, when you put it like that, I guess-"

"Glad you have some sense in you after all. Now move." She pushed past her. "Now I need to go apologize to him and hope a second date is still a possibility…"

Callie frowned, watching her leave. "…I was really hoping to get you in on this… I mean… we promised each other before that we're sisters forever, and that we'd… do everything together…"

"Sisters?" She stopped and turned back to face her. "We're not sisters, Callie. I'm not even sure I wanna consider you a friend anymore. We're just two cousins who got forced together, and now, we have to put up with each other."

Callie stared at her, a bit surprised and _very_ hurt. She looked down.

"Don't bother talking to me this weekend. Or anytime soon." With that, Marie walked off.

Callie had to fight back tears as Cuttlefish walked up, also watching her leave.

"...Well…" Cuttlefish sighed. "…That could've gone better…"

She was unable to fight her tears, and a couple of them fell past her eyes and down her cheeks.

"Hey…" He reached a shaky finger over to wipe one of them. "Don't lose hope. Sure, you might be the sole agent right now, but I know you can do it."

"...I just…" She looked back at Marie, from a distance now. "…I really wanted to do it with her… like we do everything else…"

"...I know…" He put a hand on his shoulder. "But I'm sure it's just a temporary setback. Now… if you wanna come inside… we still have some planning that we should be doing."

"...Ok…"

He hugged her, before they broke off and headed back to his place.


	3. Safety Hazards of the Mall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Callie and Marie's friendship is put to the test, the talent show participants are announced. Meanwhile, Callie is called for her first mission when the Octarians make their move.

**A Weekend Later…**

**Inkopolis High School**

Marie quickly and efficiently spun in the combination to her locker, before she opened it and started swapping out her books, a bit more roughly than usual. She had been in a pretty sour mood all weekend, and she hadn't been talking to Callie that much since she left Cuttlefish's house. She wasn't even sure she wanted to consider Callie a friend anymore, quite honestly. How they were going to perform together now, she didn't know. Maybe they just wouldn't anymore. She sighed as she thought about it, but thankfully for her, her mood was about to be changed for the better.

She jumped slightly as she felt a finger brush through her hair. "Hey, beautiful." Someone spoke behind her.

She blushed and turned around to see Josh, who was smiling warmly at her. It was seriously the most attractive smile she had ever seen. "…Josh? I…" She stuttered. "I-I didn't think you were gonna wanna talk to me again…"

"Why wouldn't I wanna talk to you again?" Josh replied.

"...O-Our first date… m-my stupid cousin screwed everything up… I-I've been crying a lot ever since…"

"Are you talking about when I woke up in your hotel room the next morning with a headache and no idea what the hell happened?"

She looked down.

"Hey. Don't worry. I'm not mad. I was just confused. And frankly, I was worried you abandoned me because I did something wrong."

"N-No, you didn't do anything wrong, but… wait, you're really not mad…?"

"No. Of course not. In fact, I was wondering if you wanted to try again?"

"...Again?"

He nodded and smiled again. "Maybe this time, we'll finally hit all the bases."

She turned very bright red and looked down again, taking a deep breath. "I… wow, y-you really think we're… r-ready to take things to that step…?"

"Do you not want to?"

Keeping her gaze down, she weakly croaked out "I want to…", although accidentally. Her eyes widened a bit when she realized what she just responded with.

"Great." Josh smiled and kissed her forehead, before he took her hand. "I think you're the one, Marie."

"...T-The one…?"

"Yeah. I want us to make it. Few more years in high school, and then we'll be 18, and then we'll be able to go out into the world, do whatever we want, marry, and start a family. I wouldn't do it with anyone other than you."

"...That does sound pretty nice…"

"Yeah? You wanna do it?"

"...Yes…" She replied, starting to feel like she might be ascending up to cloud nine. She smiled at him, all while a small little voice in the back of her head was telling her how fishy this sounded. She, of course, quickly suppressed that thought. After all, it was too perfect to turn down.

"Great." He smiled and gave her a kiss, and she wrapped an arm around her as she tenderly kissed him back. They happily shared the kiss for a sweet moment before-

"No sexual contact in the halls." A teacher told them as he passed. "Break it up, you two."

Marie broke the kiss to look at him, before she turned back to Josh. "…Sexual contact…?"

He shrugged and planted another kiss on her forehead anyway, before the intercom buzzed to life.

_"Attention, students. We have carefully reviewed your auditions for the upcoming talent show, and have finalized the list of those we will allow to perform. The list has been posted outside Mr. Inkblot's classroom for view between classes, and will be kept there until the talent show itself."_ The message then cut off as the one-minute bell rang.

"Oh, shit… um…" Marie was quickly reminded of her feud with Callie, but forget about it just as quickly as she grabbed Josh's hand and starting pulling him in the direction of Mr. Inkblot's class. "Come on, I gotta see if we made the list!"

"Um… ok…" Josh replied, surprised by the suddenly pulling.

It didn't take Marie long to reach the list, where a couple other students were looking as well. "Excuse me, move!" She shoved a girl aside as she stepped in front of the list, and starting desperately reading through it. "…Come on, come on, come on, come on…"

Josh looked at it for a moment as well, and he pointed at a name. "Hey, I see you. You made the list!"

"Where!?" She looked at the name he pointed at, only to see he actually had his names mixed up. "…That's Maria… my name's _Marie._ "

"...Oh." He dropped his hand.

Marie kept scanning the list multiple times over, even until after the late bell had already rung, but wasn't seeing her or Callie's name. "…I'm… are we not there…?"

"Um… oh, hey, look! There you are." Josh pointed at another name.

"...That's Mary…"

"...Oh." He dropped his finger again.

Finally accepting defeat, she pulled her gaze from the list and looked down, sighing. "…I… was I really not good enough…?"

"Hey… don't be like that." He rubbed her back. "I'm sure you were… great…" He said, a bit half-heartedly.

"...Really?"

"Of course. I mean… I bet it wasn't even your fault, I bet it was Carly's."

"...You mean Callie?"

"Callie, right. Sorry."

"Get to class, people." Another teacher told them as he walked passed. "Now."

Marie turned away, sighing. "Let's just… forget about Callie… let's just go…"

"Ok…" He gave another soft kiss on the forehead and put his arm around her, leading her away. Marie gave another glance at the list, before she turned her attention away from it entirely and headed to her next class with him.

Unbeknownst to both of them, Callie herself was actually watching from behind the corner, teary-eyed, and stepped out once they were out of sight. She looked around to see if there was anyone left to see her crying, before she walked up to the list to see it herself. Just like Marie had seen before, neither of the girls were on it.

Now, she actually was crying, as tears streamed down her cheeks and a small broken gasp escaped her mouth. To make extra sure that no one could see her, she ran to the girl's bathroom, where she locked herself in a stall, sat down on the toilet seat, and buried her face in her palms.

Were the Squid Sisters already no more?

* * *

**Later**

**Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap…**

Now, Callie was the one that was constantly tapping her pen, as she sat in class with a defeated look on her face. She was of course annoying the students around her, but she didn't care.

Marie, who was now too calm to be tapping her pen like that, turned to look at her, with an unamused, almost threatening look on her face.

Callie locked eye contact with her. As far as she was concerned right now, the cousins were currently enemies. In the span of a weekend, Marie had refused to do agent work with her, ignored her for days, talked about her behind her back and gave up on the Squid Sisters, and stole the guy she really liked despite her requesting otherwise. She subconsiously started tapping the pen faster.

"For god's sake, Marie, silence that damn pencil!" The teacher suddenly snapped.

Callie immediately stopped, and Marie turned to the teacher. "It wasn't me!"

"Then I'm guessing the constant googoo eyes at your boyfriend wasn't you, either?"

The class laughed, and Marie just gave up, sighing. "…Sorry…"

"Get back to work." He went back to his crossword puzzle.

See, from Marie's point of view, in the span of a weekend, Callie had butchered their audition and her dream, ruined her big date with Josh, tranquilized her, had been refusing to help do work around their hotel room, and was now doing nothing but being annoying and inadvertently embarrassing her in the process. She turned around and shot an even angrier glance at Callie, mouthing something. "I'm going to kill you…"

Callie backed up in her seat somewhat, surprised, as Marie just returned to her work. She gulped slightly, and tried to focus on her own work as well, but seemed unable to.

She tried, at least, until her phone suddenly started ringing, for the whole class to hear. Everyone looked at her at annoyance, and she desperately pulled it out to see that her "Gramps" was calling her.

The teacher sighed and stood up, walking over to her. "Ok, Callie, the phone's mine." He stuck his hand out. "You can have it back after class."

She held the phone away from his grasp. "W-Wait, it might actually be important, it's my Gramps! He's probably… dying."

"...Oh…"

"Just please let me answer, it'll take like two seconds. Or, um… the rest of the day if he is… dying…"

"...Ok. Take it outside, though." He turned around and went right back her desk.

Callie brought her backpack with her just in case as she walked out to the hall, while Marie rolled her eyes, able to see past her bullshit. The teacher suddenly turned to her as well. "Marie, don't you think you should be going with her?"

"...I don't need to…" Marie replied simply.

Making sure that she was alone, Callie answered the call in the hallway. "Gramps?"

_"Young lady! Good timing, I have a mission for y-"_

"Oh, oh, if you're calling me for agent work, please call me Agent 1!"

_"...Ok… Agent 1, I have a mission for you."_

"What is it, Agent… Gramps?"

_"I've received evidence that Evelyn and her team will be at Arowana Mall in over half an hour. I don't know what they're planning on doing there, but I want you to get over there and try to stop them."_

"Ok. Great! Just, uh… you know I'm in school, right?"

_"The fate of Inkopolis itself is more important than school. But… what kind of grandfather would I be if I didn't let you go without making you promise to do the make-up work later?"_

She groaned slightly. "…I promise… to do the make-up work later…" She said half-heartedly.

_"That's my girl."_

"Agent, not girl." She corrected.

_"One more thing. This might be a little dangerous to do alone, so… do you think you can scoop up Marie for the mission last minute?"_

"Um…" She awkwardly looked back in the direction of the classroom. "…I can… try… but I'm scared she's gonna kill me if I do."

_"She's not gonna kill you, just see if you can pull her aside between classes."_

"...Ok…"

* * *

A little while later, when the class ended and Marie stepped out into the hall, she was only able to walk a little down the hall before she was suddenly pulled into the girl's bathroom. "What the-"She hissed at her when she saw it was Callie. "You!"

"I'm sorry, you always follow the same exact hallway path every day, you're like a robot." Callie defended herself. "Listen, I really need your help."

"You're gonna need medical help if you don't leave me the fuck alone."

She ignored her. "Listen. Those bad guy Octarians Gramps told us about, they're going to make their move soon. In Arowana Mall. And I don't really know if I can take them on alone."

"Ugh, this shit again…" She groaned. "I already told you I don't want to be a part of your secret agent fantasy."

"And I told _you_ this isn't a fantasy. These are the same guys that Gramps fought in the Great Turf War. And if they succeed in whatever they're trying to do, you're going to regret not helping me. These guys are genuine movie bad guys."

"Do you even hear yourself?"

"I'm asking you, as my friend, and as my cousin, to help me out on this. You're good with chargers, so I know-"

She was interrupted as an emo girl suddenly slammed a stall door open, having been in there there for a while, doing… something. She looked at them, dramatically chewing on some gum. "…Do you guys, like… need to see the nurse for brain trauma?"

"No…"

"...Do you have brain cancer?"

"I don't think so…"

She kept loudly chewing on her gum, thinking about her next question. "...Do you have schizophrenia?"

"Get out, Beth." Marie pointed toward the exit.

She rolled her eyes and silently walked out.

Callie turned back to Marie. "Ok, so as I was saying, the Octarians are going to-"

"Oh my god, Lillian has, like, the flattest ass in the whole school." Another girl came in, laughing and gossiping with her friend, as they stopped to just rudely stand there and talk like Callie and Marie were already doing.

"Her ass looks like a pancake." Her friend replied.

"Not to mention that her boyfriend, like, has an obsession with MLP. And I'm pretty sure he's actually gay and cheating on her."

"No way, did you her see him with someone?"

"Well, I see him talk with Tony in chemistry class a lot even though they're not partners."

"Oh my god, they _must_ be fucking."

Callie sighed and silently turned back to Marie, realizing she was just unable to truly talk in privacy. "Just… please, Marie? I don't know what else I can say…"

"...Just leave me alone, Callie. And leave me out of it." Marie turned to leave. "I'm not going to ask again."

Callie just stared in a heartbroken silence, watching her leave. But now, it was time for the mission, even if she had to do it alone. Ignoring the girls that were in the bathroom with her, she walked out, looked around, and went to straight up sneak out of the school.

She headed back to the hotel room she shared with Marie, where she went to get herself equipped for Agent work, for the first time. The armor that Cuttlefish was making for her wasn't quite ready yet, so she ended up just wearing her pink jacket, along with her ink tank. But, for the sake of disguise, she did slip on a pink beanie and black sunglasses, as she picked up her Hero Roller that she used for general ink battles. The moment that she felt ready, she headed back out, and launched off in an illegal super jump.

* * *

**Arowana Mall**

It was a pretty peaceful day at the mall, with many people casually going around the many different stores as they shopped. There wasn't really anything out of the ordinary… until Callie suddenly crash landed in the middle of the mall, rolling to a stop as she landed from her super jump. Many people gasped, looking at her.

"Ow!" Callie grunted, as she slowly stood up and rolled her neck. She really need to work on landing those larger jumps.

As she looked around, she could see that there were still many people that were staring at her, seeing that she was disguised and had her roller with her.

"Um… it's ok, I'm here to help!" She waved at everyone. "You're safe now! You are no longer in danger!"

_"Agent 1."_ The earpiece that Cuttlefish had handed Callie before buzzed to life in her ear, broadcasting the voice of Cap'n Cuttlefish. _"Do you read me?"_

"Loud and clear, Gramps. Wow, this thing is cool." She poked it.

_"...Am I using this thing correctly? Agent 1? Hellloooo? Can you read me?"_

"Yes, Gramps, I can-"

_"Testing, testing, wah wah, woo woo… blahhhh, faaaah, laaaaah… bleeeeeh…"_

"...Gramps? Can you hear _me?"_

_"Keeeeeh, deeeeeeeh… dammit. Why isn't this working?"_ He then suddenly started imitating animal noises, for whatever strange reason, at which point Callie got tired of it and took her earpiece out altogether.

"Ok… this should…" She pressed a button on the earpiece and put it back in. "Gramps! Can you hear me now?"

_"Ah, young lady! Good to hear your voice. You at the mall yet?"_

"Yes, I'm here. Waiting for bad guys."

_"Oh, great. From my understanding, they should be there any second… just hang tight and stay alert. What about Marie, could you get her to come?"_

"...No…" She sighed. "It's just me…"

_"...Hm… well, it shouldn't be a problem. Just remember to be careful."_

"On it. This is Agent 1, in act- oh…" She suddenly stopped, as she noticed a couple mall cops heading in her direction. "This doesn't look good…"

"Miss, you're not allowed to have weapons in the mall. At least not outside of Ink Battles."

"Oh…" She looked at her roller. "It's perfectly fine, officer. I'm here on important business."

"And what kind of business is that? Terrorizing random people?" The other mall cop said.

"...Secret agent business."

The cops looked at each other, then back at Callie. "…How old are you?"

"Shouldn't you be in school or something?" The other one asked.

"No, listen, the Octarians are coming here. My gramps told me. I'm here to stop them."

"Yeah, ok… sure, the Octarians are back." He said sarcastically as he suddenly grabbed her arm. "I'm gonna need you to leave the mall, miss."

"Hey." She started struggling against his grip, which only encouraged him to start holding her tighter. "Hey!"

"I don't want to hurt you!" He yelled back.

"Let go of me, Paul Blart!" She continued struggling anyway.

"Come on, let's go!" The other cop grabbed her as well, before they were all stopped by an unusually loud car engine sound. They all stopped and listened.

"...Is that a vehicle within the mall borders?" One cop asked after a moment of silence.

They sat for another moment in silence before, confirming their suspicions, a van suddenly drove into view, nearly running some people over.

"Woah… cool…" Callie muttered.

"Oh, boy…" One of the cops sighed. "Who's the idiot this time?"

"You talk to them this time." The other one said.

"Fine… watch the girl." He let go of her, leaving her to the watch of his partner, as he walked up to the van. "Hey, you're not allowed to drive vehicles within the mall borders!"

Everyone in the van stayed silent, until he got close.

"Step out, please." He stepped in front, able to see the girl in the front window. Upon closer inspection, though, the girl didn't quite look… normal. "…Ma'am? You listening?"

The girl responded by suddenly slamming her foot down, and the wheels screeched against the ground before suddenly driving forward full speed.

"HOLY!" The cop yelled as he just _barely_ dodged to the side _,_ using his squid form to do so.

Even then, the van didn't stop. Instead, it was actually heading straight for his partner, and thus by extension, Callie. A scream left Callie's mouth as the cop cowardly jumped out of the way before she ever reached them. The crowd, who were now watching, gasped and screamed as the van actually drove right over Callie, who ducked into her squid form, and came to a stop right over her as the driver hit the brakes.

The mall cops looked on, as the van opened up, and multiple Octolings poured out, with red ink, strange goggles on, and hair that partially blocked their face. Civilian screams filled the area as they pointed their weapons in front of them, their posture pretty soldier-like.

"Hold it right ther-" The first mall cop tried to stop them, before he was suddenly shot at. His ink splattered the area as he was splatted.

Another Octoling turned to the second mall cop, who looked up at her in fear. "Hey, girl, I'm actually on break ri-" He was interrupted as he too, was splatted.

The shoppers, meanwhile, were trying to flee the area, but were interrupted as a massive inkstrike blast formed an entire wall of ink, blocking their path. They tried to turn the other way, but were, of course, blocked by the Octolings, now held at gunpoint.

"Inklings!" One Octoling said, standing in front of them. "Resistance is useless! We have come here for one mission and for one mission only, to secure your Zapfish! Let us do our thing, and no harm will come to you!"

"Man, these girls have _really_ weird hair…" One Inkling muttered to his friend.

"Quiet!" An Octoling poked him with her weapon, causing him to jump. "Not another peep."

Meanwhile, Callie, who was left underneath the van itself, snuck out in her squid form, before she transformed back and hid by the side of the van.

_"Agent 1, what's happening? Are you hurt?"_

"Sorry, I'm fine, I just nearly got hit by a car…" Callie looked over the situation. "Aw, man, the bad guys are here and they have hostages…"

_"How many?"_

"A whole group… no other help is coming…"

_"Well, that means your time to act is now. Be careful, young lady."_

"I mean… I don't know, I've never really taken on this many people at once in turf war… you know I've only taken on a maximum of four…"

_"Well, you're out of options now. Just do your best, and, I can't stress this enough, be careful and don't get cocky."_

She took a deep breath. "…Ok, time to get cocky…"

_"...That's the opposite of what I-"_

"HYAAAAA!" She suddenly screamed overdramatically as she came out from behind the van, slashing her roller at the first Octoling in sight. Gasps could be heard as she was successfully splatted, splashing her ink all over the hostages.

The Octolings all turned to face Callie. "…Who the fuck is this?"

"I am…" She looked around at the hostages. "…your friendly neighborhood… girl."

She sighed. "Take her out." She said, before they all turned their weapons on her in sync, shooting at her. Callie yelped and swiped her own ink across the ground, giving herself some room to swim around, as she took them on in combat.

As the Octolings turned all of their attention on the agent, the shoppers immediately took the opportunity to flee, clearing the area out. Callie, meanwhile, took a moment to spread as much ink around as possible, giving herself the environmental advantage, although it didn't take long for her to notice that it was barely working. The Octolings still outnumbered her, and were quickly replacing her ink with their own.

With her roller, Callie was only able to take out a single Octoling with a lucky swing before she was forced to retreat behind the van. She took a breath. "…Ok, these guys might be tricky…"

_"Take them on one at a time, if you have to."_ Cuttlefish reminded her.

"...Yeah, ok…" She nodded to herself. "One at a time…"

_"You can do this."_

"I can do this…" Once her ink tank was refilled, she took another deep breath, raised her roller, and jumped out with another war cry. Or, at least she tried to, as she quickly interrupted by an Octo Shot right in her face, held by an Octoling who had simply walked around the opposite side of the van. She gulped and backed up slightly. "…Hello…"

"Hi." The Octoling grinned at her before she pulled the trigger.

* * *

**Inkopolis High School**

As this was going on, Marie had just gotten out of another period, and was walking down the halls to the next class when she saw that some of the students seemed extra chatty. Something was clearly happening, and as she looked around, she saw that pretty much everyone was already on their phone and talking about it.

Curiously, she walked up to a group of students that were in a circle by some lockers. "What's going on?"

"There's some kind of terrorists at the mall. They're totally shooting up the place." One girl responded.

"Ink everywhere. So much death." A boy said. "I bet someone got decapitated."

Marie's eyes widened a little when she remembered what Callie said. "What?" She suddenly took the phone from them to look, seeing that they were reading an article of what was going on. It wasn't as dramatic as the kids were saying it was, but there was definitely something going on there. It actually sounded like Callie and Gramps were right…

"That's my phone, please, thank you." The girl said again as she ripped it back from her hands. "Nosy slut."

"...Excuse me?"

"Don't think we haven't seen you with Josh." She said, passive-aggressively, before she turned back to her friends.

Marie backed up. That was a bit odd, and rude, but whatever, she had some more pressing matters to deal with at the moment. If Callie was right, then… oh no.

Right as the one-minute bell rang, she suddenly took off running down the hall.

* * *

**A Few Minutes Later**

**Arowana Mall**

A news helicopter flew over the area, as police swarmed outside the mall borders, forced to figure out their next move. A couple Octolings who had broken off from the main group had actually been holding the police back with special weapons, and any that managed to get in were splatted fairly quickly by any Octolings that were in the mall.

As this was going on, the main group of Octolings that had fought Callie had gone to a specific store, which was their destination. They had already managed to find the cashier's hiding spot and dragged him out, two Octolings holding him at gun point.

"...Look, whatever you want, just take it. I didn't do anything." He told them, nervously.

"It's not that simple." The main Octoling said. She had a different appearance from the other ones; she had a somewhat cooler armor, and her hair was black, with some Elite seaweed pieces sticking out. She was looking all around the store, rubbing her weapon with her thumb all the while, before she stepped toward them, staring down the cashier. "I don't see what we want. What did you do with them?"

"With what? What are you talking about?"

"Don't play games with me." She suddenly pointed her weapon right at his throat.

"No, no, don't hurt me! Just… I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Your Zapfish, Inkling! We want your Zapfish collection! All of them!"

"...W-What?"

"Inkish, motherfucker, do you speak it!?" She suddenly snapped.

"Yes!"

"Then you know what I'm saying! Where. Are. Your Zapfish!?"

"We don't sell Zapfish! We're a plush store! We're just a plush store, I swear!"

"Evelyn." A fourth Octoling walked up to the Elite, a Zapfish plushy in her hand. "We searched the store. This is all they have." She held it up.

Evelyn looked at her. "…What is that?"

"It's a plushy. This is a plush store, ma'am."

"...But that Inkling website told us we could find Zapfish here."

The Octoling just shrugged. "Perhaps the website was mistaken, ma'am."

Evelyn turned back to the cashier. "We want _real_ Zapfish, you traitorous plushy maker. Where do we find them?"

"...At a Zapfish plant?" He said as if it was obvious.

"For fuck's sake…" She suddenly pulled the trigger and splatted him, before she turned to leave. "Let's go."

"Yes, ma'am." The other Octolings replied in unison as they followed her out. The Octoling who was holding the plushy was about to throw it aside, but after a moment of staring at it, decided it was too cute for that. Looking around, she grabbed as many Zapfish plushies as she could hold in her arms before she finally followed.

As the Octolings left the store and went back to their van, they remained unaware that Callie had already recovered from getting splatted, and was waking back up in the spot by their van where they had left her. She groaned, sitting back up.

_"Agent 1? Agent 1, are you there?"_ Cuttlefish had been trying to reach her a good portion of the time.

"Y-Yeah, I'm here… just… they got me… and I wasn't connected to a spawn point…" She slowly stood up, holding her head as she leaned on the van.

_"I was afraid of that… where are the Octolings now?"_

"...I… don't know…" She said, right before she heard multiple footsteps approach the van. "Hold on…" She hid from view. It was only another moment before she heard the back doors to the van open, as Octolings crawled inside.

This was her chance. Her second chance, at least. Gripping her roller, she snuck around the van until she reached the back, where she could see the black-haired, elite Octoling. She grinned, ignoring her headache as she leaped out at her, swinging her roller. "SURPRI-" She was interrupted, however, when Evelyn suddenly turned around and punched her in the face with surprising reflexes. She flew back and landed on her butt, sliding across the ground a bit. "…Ow…"

"You again." Evelyn scoffed.

"Ma'am, we can-" An Octoling tried to interrupt.

"No, stand down. I got this." She cracked her knuckles. "I'm bored, anyway."

Callie was just barely standing up, when Evelyn walked up to her. Grunting, she attempted again to swing her roller at her, but she dodged and kicked her, knocking the roller out of her hand.

"Someone's gotta teach you to mind your own business." Evelyn hissed at her, casually standing there, almost in a non-aggressive way.

Callie stared at her, surprised. "…Ok, you're good... but I've tried boxing before!" She got closer and swung a punch at her, but Evelyn effortlessly grabbed her arm mid-swing and countered by hitting her in the stomach, and then again in the face. She was knocked back again, rolling across the ground, even farther from her charger now. Now, Evelyn was walking toward her, looking like she was coming in for the kill. She attempted to stand up again, but before she even found her footing, she punched her a third time, this time knocking her through a window into a store. She slid across the ground, unconscious, and a woman who was hiding in the store screamed as Callie landed next to her.

Evelyn scoffed and turned back to the van, but Callie wasn't down for long. After merely a few seconds, Callie woke back up and suddenly sat up with a gasp, causing the woman to scream again, catching Evelyn's attention. Callie crawled over and desperately covered the woman's mouth. "No, shh, shh, shh!"

The woman did stop screaming, but it was too late. Evelyn was already after her once again, and jumped in through the empty glass.

"God, your scream is loud, lady." Callie told the woman before she stood up, facing Evelyn. Facing her in hand-to-hand combat was obviously helpless, so she knew she had to get back to her roller somehow. But… how was she gonna get back to it? "Hey, you want me? Come get me, seaweed!" She suddenly took off running through the store.

"Don't call me that! I earned these!" Evelyn growled, pulling out her weapon.

Callie hid behind a shelf as she heard ink firing in her direction, and she ran across, making her way back to the entrance. It wasn't long before she circled around the whole store and leaped through the same broken window, running in the general direction of her roller.

However, the other Octolings had already caught on to her plan, and was standing in front of it, holding her at gunpoint. "Don't move."

"...Ok, ple-" Callie tried to say, before she was suddenly hit in the back of the head by Evelyn. She collapsed to her knees, and Evelyn brought her Octo Shot to the back of her head.

"You annoying little worm…" She hissed. "Who are you, anyway?"

"...I'm, uh… Agent 1… of the New Squidbeak Splatoon?"

She thought about it. "…Agent 1, huh? That's cute… so you're just kind of idiot, then? How'd you know we'd be here?"

"...I'm not just an idiot… I'm…" She trailed off. She didn't dare bring up Cuttlefish's name.

She sighed. "…One way or another, we're gonna find out what we need to know. You're coming with us." She grabbed her. "Get up." When Callie refused to move, she forcefully pulled her up. "Get up!"

Callie no longer had a response, and only whimpered a bit. She was actually quite nervous now. Were they gonna torture her?

Evelyn started shoving her to the van, but before they could reach it, a strong shot of green ink suddenly hit one of the Octolings, splatting her. Startled, Evelyn accidentally let go of Callie, who _immediately_ took the opportunity to flee. She looked up, seeing where the shots were coming from. "Son of a-" She dodged an attack that was aimed at her. "Evacuate!"

More shots were fired at them as they fled back to their van, but only Evelyn herself made it back as the others were actually successfully splatted. The van quickly sped off as soon as she was inside, and although it got hit by a couple more shots of ink, it soon drove out of sight, leaving the area silent.

Callie stepped out from her hiding spot, a bit shakily, as she looked around to see where the shots were coming from. She definitely knew that shade of green. Her eyes soon locked onto Marie, who had fired the shots, hidden on top of a ledge in a sniper position. Marie morphed into her squid form and suddenly blasted toward her in a small super jump, landing only a few feet from her. She was still only in her school clothes and was still carrying her backpack, but of course now had her charger with her.

"...M-Marie… Where did you-?"

"We'll talk later." She interrupted, her tone of voice indicated that she still wasn't happy with her. "…Are you ok?"

"...Y-Yes…"

"Good. Let's get you out of here. Follow me, we're going to Gramps' place." She turned back into her squid form, before launching off in a bigger super jump.

Callie watched, standing still for a moment as she processed what just happened, before she also turned into her squid form and followed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I know it's been a while. I apologize for not updating as much as I should, but lately I have actually been having computer problems that have hindered my productivity. My keyboard has stopped working lately and, even though it's just a few keys that died out, it's very crippling when it comes to writing, so I've had to borrow a separate laptop and constantly swap files between them through a hard drive in order to keep writing. Aside from that, I think we can all agree this year has been unbelievably crazy in general, and it's easy to lose motivation in times like this. Regardless, I hope you're all doing well, I'll be trying to write more and get chapters up more frequently, and I'll see you next time. *waves*


	4. The Weak and the Elite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evelyn has an idea, Marie has a big decision to make, and a certain boy has a confession.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: The Splatoon song Squid Melody [Blue Version] and its lyrics belong to The Living Tombstone.

**Downtown Inkopolis**

It was a pretty pleasant afternoon so far for the south end of Inkopolis; the area of the city where less of the population lived, and where most of the buildings were older and more run down, making it the perfect hot spot for criminals and drug sells and whatnot. One group of Octolings, that had recently come to the city for their mission, had made this not-so-lovable part of the city their temporary home, where they set up a work station in an abandoned warehouse.

Inside this warehouse, there was a whole group of Octoling engineers working on their projects; the big one aside from weaponry being the jet that they were assembling with some Octarian technology in the middle of the warehouse. Octolings were whistling to themselves as they worked, very much enjoying themselves and the fun of the project; Octarians did have a soft spot for building and inventing, after all.

Unfortunately for them, though, their good mood was about to change, as Evelyn's van came screeching into the warehouse, before coming to a sudden stop not far from the jet. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to them, as the doors opened up and Evelyn stormed out.

"Son of a bitch… son of a BITCH!" She suddenly kicked a toolbox, before she started listing off some Octarian swears in anger.

Everyone else was just staring at her in silence, while the other Octolings that made it out of the mall followed Evelyn out of the van.

"...Um… am I allowed to ask how the mission went…?" The closest Octoling to the van asked as she walked up.

"No!" She snapped at her without even hearing what she said. "…Someone ask me how the mission went! I dare you!"

She sighed. "…How did the mission go…?"

"It was a bust!" She threw her gun at the floor, breaking it. "The mall didn't even have live Zapfish! And what's worse, we got thrown off by a… teenager! We got thrown off by teenagers! And it was these bozos' fault!" She pointed to the other Octolings that were in the van with her.

"...I-It was you who failed to stop her…" One of them, still holding a Zapfish plushy, pointed out.

"Shut up! I didn't ask you for your opinion!" She turned to everyone else. "Octavio gave us a very simple task, people! He didn't say to bring back nothing but plushies and get stuck fighting little kids!"

"Again… y-your fault…" She said, quieter this time.

"Ma'am." The other Octoling from the van said. "We didn't come out entirely empty handed."

"Yes, we did! We are completely empty handed right now!"

"Ok, well, with all due respect, ma'am, I don't think you're seeing the whole picture. For one, now we know to actually find a proper Zapfish plant. Second, the jet is almost finished, so we'll be able to get the Great Zapfish from the Plaza as soon as we have regular Zapfish to power it. Third… during the van ride, I did get on my tablet, and I think I might've identified the girls at the mall."

"...Who?"

She turned her tablet back on, and showed them the high school IDs of Callie and Marie that she had managed to hack. Evelyn looked at it as the Octoling continued. "Callie and Marie Cuttlefish."

"...How'd you know to look for these random girls?"

"Because they're the granddaughters of Craig Cuttlefish."

"...Who?"

"...Craig Cuttlefish? Who fought in the Great Turf War? Don't you know him?" She swiped the screen to show her his profile that the Octarians had wrote on him. "He was the leader of the Squidbeak Splatoon, and fought tirelessly day and night against our own-"

"Alright, alright, I get it, you nerd." She took the tablet from her and looked it over. "…Think we can find him?"

"Him? Probably not. We don't have his current location. But the girls, definitely. They go to Inkopolis High School, and they've been staying at an hotel about a mile away from there."

Evelyn slowly grinned, the same grin that always spread on her face when she got an idea.

"...What?"

"...Do you think that you can contact Octavio and ask if that Great Octoweapon is ready yet?"

* * *

**Meanwhile**

"Marie…"

"What?"

"Will you stop pacing, please? You're on the verge of hypnotizing me."

"No."

Callie and Marie were currently at Cuttlefish's house, with Cuttlefish himself seated nearby, while Marie nervously paced and Callie leaned against Cuttlefish's arm rest.

"...Young lady." Cuttlefish now spoke.

"What?" Marie hissed, slightly louder this time.

"Relax. Talk to us. What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that this shit is crazy. It's crazy. It's crazy!"

"But also badass." Callie pointed out.

"Badass!?" She stopped and turned to her. "Those weird-looking girls could've killed you. And now you're telling me you think this is _badass_!?"

"Yes! Scary, but badass! Badass people are the people who can go through scary stuff!"

"WE'RE 14!"

"I KNOW!"

"GIRLS!" Cuttlefish interrupted. "I get it. What we're up against is crazy. I admit it. But it's also a real threat. Now, I know that you girls haven't been getting along lately… but this is not the time to fight!"

Marie sighed and fell silent, listening to him.

"...What inspired you to join Callie at the mall, young lady?"

"...She told me that people would be attacking the mall and it was later on the news… I feared for her safety…"

"So, you still care about each other."

"All I care about at the moment is punching her in the face."

"Hey…" Callie backed up slightly.

"Young lady. Focus. " Cuttlefish continued. "You were mad before because you thought we were feeding you a fantasy."

"And because you tranquilized me." Marie clarified.

"At least I didn't steal the boy you wanted." Callie shot back.

"And at least I'm not an annoying cunt."

She stood up in anger. "And at least I'm not a straight up asshole!"

"And at least I'm not some pink-inked wannabe slut!"

"And at least I'm not some… some… _green_ -inked wannabe slut!"

"You just stole my insult!"

"AND you're a wannabe pornstar!"

"What!? What makes you think I wanna be a fucking pornstar!?"

"BECAUSE YOU SLEPT WITH JOSH!"

"NO I DIDN'T!"

"PROVE IT!"

"HOW!?"

"...OK, FINE, I HAVE NO PROOF MYSELF, BUT I SAW YOU WERE ABOUT TO DO IT BEFORE I DID TRANQUILIZE YOU!"

"OH, BOOHOO, SO I WAS DRUNK!"

"AND YOU WERE DRUNK! THAT'S BAD!"

"I DON'T CARE!"

"IT'LL HURT YOUR BRAIN AND THEN YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO BE A PORNSTAR!"

"I DON'T WANNA BE A PORNSTAR! I WANNA BE A MUSICIAN!"

"SO DO I! EXCEPT I WANTED TO DO IT WITH YOU!"

They fell silent as Marie heard that. Cuttlefish just stared at them.

"...I wanted to do it with you… because I could never do it by myself…" Callie finally lowered her voice, tearing up. "…And then, you stole the boy I wanted, called it quits after we weren't on the list and didn't tell me, and you're mad because I tranquilized you, when all I wanted to do, was get you on an important mission… you ignored that, too…"

Marie remained silent, now starting to feel bad.

"...We used to do everything together… and now we're… we're…" Callie was starting to break down further, and not wanting anyone to see her like that, stormed into the other room.

"C-Callie…" Marie tried to stop her, but instead soon heard the bathroom door slam. She sighed and sat down on the couch.

Cuttlefish remained silent for a moment, before silently and shakily getting up and crossing the room to sit next to her. He rubbed her back. "…I'm sorry for the tranquilizing thing, young lady… that was my fault… you don't have to blame her…"

"...D-Do you… think our friendship is falling apart…?" She was starting to tear up as well.

"No. Of course not. You can still fix it."

"I-I don't know how…"

"Well, the both of you just admitted that you still want to be musicians… and she wants to do it with you."

"We… we didn't even make it into the talent show… no one likes our music…"

" _I_ like your music."

"...I know you do…"

"I'm even still working on your costumes. But in the meantime… we're facing an actual threat right now. And you know it's real because you saw them at the mall."

She looked at him.

"We need your help. Callie needs your help. An Agent 2 watching her back to ensure that those pesky Octolings don't get what they're looking for. Don't tell her I said this, but I don't think Callie can do it alone. And I'm not sure you can, either. Both of you, together, that's where you work best. I've seen it."

"...Because we do everything together…"

"That's right. Marie… I need you to be Agent 2."

"...I… It's… I… don't know if it's safe…"

"You're a brave and talented girl. I know that you can overcome any obstacle. And if you ever find yourself in a truly dangerous situation, I wouldn't let you go any further. Ok?"

She looked down, thinking it over. Callie, who was listening in as best as she could, came out of the bathroom, still teary eyed. They anxiously awaited her response.

"...Ok…" Marie eventually said with a sigh. "…Let's go get ourselves killed…"

"...I'd say that's the spirit, but, uh… never mind. Welcome to the Splatoon, young lady." He smiled and extended his hand, which she shook.

Callie smiled, relieved.

"Now…" He stood up. "I have something to show you."

"What?" Marie stood up as well.

He led them to the same room with all the Great Turf War junk, turned on the light, and then went over to two new sets of armor. One of them was the black jacket covered with the yellow safety vest that he had shown Callie before, and the other one was a yellow zip-up jacket. He picked them up and turned to the girls. "These will be your agent outfits. They'll provide protection for you. Callie, this one's yours…" He handed the safety vest to Callie. "And Marie, this one's yours." He handed the jacket to Marie.

The girls looked them over. Marie turned to Callie after. "…Can we trade?"

"No." Callie replied.

"S-Sorry… um… thank you, Gramps…"

"Yeah, thanks…"

"You're quite welcome." Cuttlefish smiled. "Now, you take those home, and keep them close by for when I call for the next mission."

"Ok…" Marie nodded.

"...So, um… not to sound ungrateful, but, what about our cute stage outfits you were making?" Callie asked.

"Those are a more complicated design. I'll have them ready soon. You don't have to worry." Cuttlefish respond.

"...Yeah, ok. And hey, are you gonna kill us if we tear these?"

"No. I'll repair them."

"Cool."

"We'll, uh… we'll see you around, Gramps." Marie said. "Thanks again… and um… stay fresh."

"...What does that mean?" Cuttlefish asked.

"Oh… it's a line, that kids at school like to use…"

"It helps keep us fresh, you know?" Callie clarified.

Cuttlefish still didn't seem to understand, but he shrugged it off. "Well, whatever you kids are up to these days…"

"Hey, old man, if you wanna be fresh, then you've-"

Marie grabbed her arm to stop her. "Let's go, Callie…"

"Right. Ok. Bye, Gramps!" She waved as she was pulled out.

Cuttlefish smiled and waved back.

* * *

**The Hotel**

The walk back to their hotel room was a bit silent, but they soon arrived and unlocked the door, unaware that their was a disguised Octoling down the hall that was watching them. They entered, and Marie sighed, setting her jacket on the couch.

Callie did as well.

"Listen, I-" They suddenly said to each other in sync. "Oh, do you-… did you-… you go-…"

"The hell?" Callie finally broke it. "We're so in sync…"

Marie sighed. "You go first…"

"O-Ok… I… look… I'm gonna say that… when we… yelled at each other… I didn't… really… mean to… call you… a-"

"Ok, I'm gonna stop you right there." Marie folded her arms.

"...O-Ok…"

"I'm sorry. Ok? _I'm_ sorry. And you don't have to be. I… what you said to me made me realize, that I haven't really been… nice, lately… I've been… so distracted by Josh… and I have been a complete bitch to you. And I also noticed that it hasn't been you that's made the mistakes, recently… it's been me."

"I… oh…" She didn't expect that.

"So, I'm… I'm just so, so sorry… for how I've been acting… I know how much the whole, "Squid Sisters" thing means to you, and… I'm also sorry for doubting it…"

She sighed and sat down. "…I mean… I don't blame you for doubting it… we couldn't even get into the talent show…"

Marie sat down next to her. "…I know… but it… maybe doesn't have to be the end… remember how much people in Calamari County liked our singing?"

"...Yeah… it felt good…"

"Mhmm… but… here's the thing… going on-stage like that… it's my dream… so I don't want to give up… not yet…"

Callie looked at her.

"So, maybe if we just… work on our music for a while… make it better… get ourselves more in sync… we'll be able to be the popstars that we were at home."

"...I… yeah… that… maybe…" She looked down. "…Oh, you know what? That does actually remind of a melody I had in my head…"

Marie looked at her. "Oh, yeah? What melody?"

Callie responded by humming a few notes.

She listened intently. They were onto something. "…Hum that again."

She did so.

"Hm…" Marie put some thought into that. "…Your drawings… look like heaven to me…" She sang, to the rhythm of the notes.

Callie smiled when she too noticed they were onto something. She kept it going, making up new notes and words at the same time, all on the fly. "Such piece of… art, makes a lovely gift to see…"

Marie smiled back. "I hope one day…"

"...We will share memories."

"...You paint the world-"

"And I'll play my melodies!" Callie finished.

"Callie, that's great!" Marie commented. "That… sounds like it can actually be turned into a song."

"Then what are you doing!? Write that down, write that down!"

In a panic, Marie went to grab some paper and a pencil from her bag, before she wrote down the lyrics they just came up with. She then looked it over. "…I love it… it sounds catchy…"

"We're so talented." She bragged, still smiling.

Suddenly, Marie leaned over and abruptly hugged her.

"Woah…" Callie was surprised, but gladly hugged her back, giggling a little.

"...I don't know if I ever wanna stop writing music…" She admitted.

"Me neither…" She tightened the hug a bit.

And just like that, after they broke the hug, they kept going on their creative spree, throwing lyric ideas back and forth as they put together some sheet music on the couch. They were giggling together the whole time, very much having fun. That is, until Marie's stomach rumbled.

"Ooh… B.R.B., gotta go to the bathroom." She stood up.

"...It's not that time of the month for you again, is it?"

"Nah, that'll probably be next week… keep writing lyrics, and show them to me when I get back!" She ran to the bathroom.

"You got it!" Callie smiled and looked back down at her sheet of paper, thinking of and writing more lyrics. She didn't get far, however, as she suddenly heard a knock on the door. "Dammit…"

Sighing, she got up and went to answer. "Hello?"

"Hey." Josh suddenly rudely pushed passed her and entered.

"...H-Hey…" She immediately grew nervous. "…W-What are you doing here…?"

"I'm looking for Marie." He looked around. "Is she here?"

"Uuuuuuuuuhh…" She awkwardly and quickly went to throw a blanket over the Hero Suits. "Nope… no one here… no… secret agent business here… heh…"

He squinted a little in confusion. "…So… she's not here?"

"...Ummmm… nope…" She lied. "If you… wanna talk to Marie, you… might wanna, just… wait until school… like everyone else…"

"Oh. Nah, that's perfectly fine. I don't need to talk to her right now."

"...Then… why'd you come over?"

"To see you." He walked up.

"...But you said-"

"Listen, I… have a confession to make. If you'll hear it."

"...Ok…?"

"I've… been speaking to a lot of girls, lately, you know, a lot of the girls at the school like me. Like, everyone. I am pretty cool like that."

"...Yeah…?"

"But the thing is, you know, none of them stick out to me…" He said, over-dramatically. "There's only been one girl I've talked to, that I can't stop thinking about… her hair is black… she's insanely beautiful… and her name is Carly…"

"...Whaaa-?"

"So I'm here to tell you… I think you're the one…" He took her hand. "And I want to ask you… will you be my girlfriend?"

Callie literally didn't know what to say. This was probably the most out-of-nowhere thing a classmate has ever said to her. To make things worse, the bathroom door slammed open.

"...WHAT!?" Marie shouted.

"Marie?" He immediately let go. "Oh, Marie! Wow, good to see you! I actually came over to see you."

"No, no, no." She held up a finger to stop him, walking up. "That's not what I asked. I asked: WHAT!?"

"Marie, I think we should talk about this out-"

"I'm not going outside, we're talking about this here! I thought _I_ was your girlfriend! What the fuck are you doing coming over and hitting on my cousin!?"

"It's not what it sounds like!"

"WHAT DO YOU THINK IT SOUNDED LIKE!?"

"IIIIIIIII… um…" Callie slowly stepped away, feeling awkward as hell.

"Were you actually about to cheat on me? Is that what's happening?"

"No, absolutely not. I told you, you're the one, Marie." He tried to argue.

"BUT YOU JUST SAID THAT SAME THING TO HER!"

"I told you it isn't what it sounds like!"

"...Yeah, no, you definitely tried to hit on me, dude…" Callie decided to comment. "…It was very awkward…"

He looked back at forth at them, having nothing else to say.

"YOU MOTHERFUCKER!" Marie continued yelling. "What the hell were you even thinking!? We're SO done!"

"Aw, no, Marie…"

"NOPE! We're done! Door's right over there! So go! Get out of my hotel room!" She started pushing him.

"Aw, Marie… please give me a second chance…"

"Why!?"

"...Because I love you?"

She groaned overdramatically and opened the door for him. "Out! Get out, get out, get out!"

"Ok, ok!" Josh finally left, and Marie finally slammed the door.

"...Yeah, that's why you don't piss off girls! Like, ever!" Callie shouted a comment before she took a deep breath. "…Wow…"

Marie went over to the couch and broke down sobbing, again pretty over-dramatically.

"M-Marie… you don't… you don't have to cry…"

She just responded with more sobs.

"Marie… come on… um…" She sighed. "…Hey, big girl… the sun's getting real low…"

More sobbing.

She decided to awkwardly walk over, and sat next to her, rubbing her back. Only then, did Marie show signs of calming down. "Hey, Marie… please don't cry…"

"...But… but Josh…"

"Don't worry about him… he's just a jerk…"

"But… but…"

"Hey…" She pulled her into a hug. "I'm still here… you don't have to be upset…"

Marie sank into the hug, and slowly but surely started to calm down. She soon sighed, no more tears coming out, and relaxed.

At the end of the day, at least they were now once again there for each other.

* * *

Unbeknownst to them, however, as this was happening, a certain disguised Octoling was following Josh out of the hotel.

Josh himself silently walked out, taking a deep breath to himself. That went poorly for him, but at least he had like… ten other girlfriends. He'd be fine. Right?

As he thought this, he was suddenly hit very hard in the head, and awkwardly collapsed to the ground. The Octoling stood over him. "…Weak-ass Inkling…" She scoffed as she pulled off her sunglasses and spoke into her com system. "Evelyn. I have someone."


	5. The Big One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evelyn's plan moves forward, and it leads the Squid Sisters right into a trap.

It took several minutes for Josh to come to, and when he did, his head shot up with a loud gasp. He panted, his breathing heavy yet fast, as he looked around. He wasn't quite sure, but he appeared to be in some kind of… warehouse. He tried to move, but quickly noticed that he was tied up to a chair, all four of his limbs rendered useless. His head, the only thing he could really move, shot around in all sorts of directions, his eyes wide and panicked.

He could see some… pretty weird looking people working on projects around him, including a small nearby jet. Wow. That was actually pretty cool. If only one of his girlfriends could see him right now, they might just be impressed. Or utterly frightened like he was, whatever.

His thoughts were interrupted as someone suddenly set a chair in front of him, and he jumped. A woman, who looked just as weird as the people around him, sat down. She sat there, looking him over for a moment, before she forced an awkward smile. "…Hi."

"...Hello…" Josh replied, just as awkwardly. "…So… who are you?"

"Name's Evelyn." She extended her hand.

Josh stared at it, and then at her, with a _'How do you expect me to do anything?'_ expression.

She held it out for a moment, before she put two and two together with how he was currently tied up and dropped it again, pretending as if nothing happened. "You must be confused."

"...Very… um…" He looked around again. "Is this… some kind of cult?"

"...What's a cult?"

"Uh…"

"...Never mind. Listen up, cutie. You've never seen us, but you've likely heard of our species in the history books. I'm an Octoling and we're an Octarian group working under DJ Octavio, with a mission in the city to steal as many Zapfish as we can so that we can finally bring power back to our society and overpower you so that we can be the dominant species again. You following?"

"...What's an Octarian? Are you sure that you're not a cult?"

"...Do you… not… study history…? Do… hold on… Inklings still teach it, right?"

He did a shrugging motion, at least as best as he could in his current position. "I'm currently flunking in history class… and math class… and Inkish class… um… most of my classes… I'm probably gonna end up dropping out, actually…"

Evelyn stared at him, starting to question the idiot that they just let into their warehouse. "…Ok, you know what, never mind that. Let's start over."

"Ok…"

"Simply put, I want you to do a favor for me. And I'm not gonna sugar coat it, your life depends on it. So if you want to live…" She leaned forward a bit, grinning. "…You're going to do exactly what I say."

* * *

**The Next Day**

**Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!**

The class bell finally dismissed the first class of the day, and everyone in the class immediately stood up as if they had been eagerly waiting to just get on with their own day.

Mr. Devor stood up. "Your homework today is to complete that 30-page packet, and to finish up your arts-and-craft math posters so that you can present them tom-"

"Bye, Mr. Devor." A student passed him, not even listening.

He looked around. As usual, no one was listening, and most of them were quickly walking out. He sat down with a grumble. "They'll understand… when they see, they'll understand… the importance of homework, and shoulder-numbing stress… yes, they'll understand… they'll have to…"

Callie and Marie were the last two students in the room, getting their things, and they were about to walk out as well when they were stopped.

"Marie." Mr. Devor called for her. "A word?"

Callie shot a look at Marie, and Marie sighed. "Just… I'll see you later, alright?"

"Ok…" Callie nodded and gave her a hug, before she slung her backpack over her shoulder and walked out.

Marie walked up to the teacher's desk, somewhat nervously, and she gave him an awkward wave just to seem friendly. "Hi, Mr. Devor. I promise that I've been working hard. Extra hard. So hard, I think I might just faint. You know? Hard work? Hehe…"

"...Well, given your googoo eyes at the clock and at Josh's desk for the entire class, I don't feel so inclined to believe you, but that's not what I'm talking to you for."

Marie blinked a bit. How the hell did he always notice where she was staring? What kind of hawk was he?

"I just have a question." Mr. Devor continued. "Where's Josh?"

She then shot a look back at Josh's desk. He was indeed missing so far today. She turned back to him. "…Well… I don't know… um… why are you asking me?"

"Don't play dumb, word gets around fast here. I know you two dated and then had a break-up."

Yep. Definitely a hawk. "…I-I-I-I-I… ok, yeah, we had an argument…"

"And the day after, he's gone."

"...I'm… sure he probably just has the flu…"

"I doubt it. I want you to contact him and get him back here. Sluffing is a crime, after all. No matter how bad his poor emotions are hurt."

She squinted in confusion a bit, before she shrugged it off. "…Yeah… ok… um… see you around, Mr. Devor…"

"Don't forget your 30-page packet and the-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah…" She finally walked out.

Mr. Devor sunk down in his seat again, frustrated. "…They'll understand… when they see, they'll understand…"

Initially, Marie didn't exactly have any intention of contacting Josh at all. But, she should just heed her teacher's word… right? Sighing, she pulled out her phone, sending Josh a quick text.

** Marie: ** **Yo. Come to school before Mr. Devor yells at me**

She put her phone back in her pocket and kept walking to her next class, but after a moment, it vibrated as she received a text back. She pulled it back out and looked at it.

** Josh: ** **Hello sweetiepie**

She squinted at the screen before she texted back.

** Marie: ** **Don't call me sweetiepie**

** Josh: ** **Sorry**

** Josh: ** **Hey**

** Josh: ** **How about you skip school today**

** Josh: ** **I wanna meet up**

** Josh: ** **For sex**

** Josh: ** **Bring Callie too**

** Josh: ** **For a threesome**

She stopped walking when she read that. She was getting mad now. Raising an eyebrow, she started typing a longer message.

* * *

** Marie: ** **Listen here you inconsiderate cheating shit. I broke up with you. We will not be having sex and I don't even think I want to consider you a friend anymore. I have since heard that you have lots of girlfriends and Callie and I are planning on letting them and the whole school know what kind of person you are. Never text me again. Never talk to me again. WE ARE OVER.**

The Octoling who had Josh's phone at their warehouse hideout blinked as she read this. She did not expect that. "…Evelyyyyyn?"

"What!?" Evelyn responded, working on something else. They were just about ready for their plan.

"This girl is being mean to me! Well, uh… mean to Josh!"

She stopped what she was doing and walked up to her, looking at the screen. She read the conversation real quick. "…I thought he said he was dating this girl."

"Uh… says here that they broke up."

"...Then how are we supposed to lure them into our trap!?"

"...I-I don't know…"

"Ugh!" She suddenly swiped the phone from her.

* * *

The late bell had already rung and Marie was almost to her next class when her phone started straight up ringing this time. She groaned and pulled it back out, seeing that of course, Josh still wasn't done. Now she was getting pissed. She wanted to really give him a piece of her mind. Hitting the answer button without even thinking, she held the phone to her ear. "What part of _'I don't want to talk to you'_ don't you understand!?"

 _"Now don't you use that tone of voice with me, Marie Cuttlefish."_ The very feminine voice of Evelyn responded on the other end. Marie froze as she heard that. _"Yeah, surprise, I'm not Josh. Your boyfriend is under… special care right now."_

"...What did you do with him?"

_"Nothing too painful. Yet. But, let me tell you, his screams so far, have been… unpleasant, to hear. I imagine he won't even hold up when we start the real torture."_

Marie gasped slightly. "You're torturing him!?"

_"Oh, does that bother you? Here. Listen to his miserable screams."_

After a pause, Josh's voice could then be heard. _"...Can I please go to the bathroom already? …Hey, is that Mar- What? …What do you mean act like I'm being tortured?"_

Another longer pause, as Marie listened in confusion. "…Um…"

Evelyn could then be heard sighing as she came back on, pretending that didn't just happen. _"…Let me make this real clear, Inkling. If you want Josh to live, you're going to come to the Ink-Central Park parking lot in two hours. Otherwise-"_

She could be heard pulling out a gun, followed by a much more real gasp from Josh.

 _"No! No, no, p-please don't!"_ Josh screamed.

 _"Your boyfriend dies."_ Evelyn finished. _"Kapeesh?"_

"You lay one shot on him, and-" Marie tried to say.

 _"You'll what?"_ When Marie fell silent, she continued. _"…Come get him. In two hours. Or else."_ She hung up.

"Hey. …Hey!" She hung up as well when she noticed the line went dead. Panic started to set in, and she started breathing quickly. "Oh no…"

"Hey, schizophrenic girl." A girl spoke behind her. She turned to see Beth, who was leaning on a nearby locker, apparently listening to the whole thing despite the fact they were both late for the next class. "What kind of torture devices are they using?"

"...What?" Her brain was moving too fast to think.

"...Are they using a saw? A rack? Knee splitter? Head crusher?"

"...Why?"

She loudly chewed her gum as she thought about her answer. "…I just wanna know. Are they using a breast-ripper?"

"...How do you even know what all those are?"

"The deep web." She replied casually.

Marie blinked a bit before she decided she had enough this conversation, and she suddenly took off running down the hall.

* * *

**Evelyn's Hideout**

Evelyn was handing Josh's phone back to the other Octoling when a group of Octolings walked into the warehouse, carrying multiple crates. She turned to them. "Ah. Good timing. You got good news for me?"

"Job is done." The Octoling in front announced, setting her crate down.

Evelyn grinned a little and walked forward and opened the crate a bit. She was met with a beautiful yellow glow, shining off her face. "…Perfect…"

"These are sufficient to power the jet and the Great Octoweapon?"

"Yes, they should." She closed the crate again. "Nice work. You know what to do with them."

"Yes, ma'am." They took most of the crates and walked off.

"The plan's all in motion, people!" Evelyn announced to everyone announced. "In just a couple hours, the Great Zapfish will be ours, and the Cuttlefish family won't be able to do anything about it!"

Josh, who was still tied up, stared at her, nervously at this point.

* * *

**Back at the School**

Callie was in her own class, humming to herself a bit as she worked. She had been in a pretty good mood. She was friends with Marie again, Marie no longer had access to the boy she liked (not that she even liked him that much anymore, but at least the jealousy factor was gone), and even though they didn't make it into the talent show, they were working on music together again. Things were definitely looking up for her. That was, until the reminder of the Octarian threat would come right back to haunt her.

"Callie!" Marie suddenly leaped into the classroom, causing everyone to look up at her.

"Marie?" She looked at the clock. "…Are you joining this class?"

Marie, in her stressed state, had initially failed to realize that she was interrupting a class that was already in motion, and she awkwardly looked around at everyone, sweating. "…Um…" She turned to the teacher. "I need to borrow Callie…"

"Where's your hall pass?" He folded his arms.

She just fell silent.

* * *

**An Hour and a Half Later**

Marie was anxiously tapping her foot, her head down on the desk as she sat through her mid-day detention period, sighing deeply to herself. She really shouldn't have yelled at the teacher the way she did…

The Jellyfish that was supervising them was keeping a close eye on literally anyone who was currently in the room, which was just Marie, a random crying girl, and an Inkling boy who she was 90% sure was a junkie.

It was getting close to the end of her detention session when Callie suddenly walked in. "Marie?"

She sat up and looked at her, then up at the clock, seeing it was under a minute away from ending. "Oh, thank god…" She grabbed her backpack and stood up. "There's something I really need to talk to you about."

"Hey!" The Jellyfish suddenly yelled at them. "Sit down, Ms. Cuttlefish. Wait until detention's over."

Marie turned back to him."...B-But it's seconds away from-"

"Sit down!"

She whimpered a little and sat down in her seat, before she turned back to Callie. "A-Anyway… I-"

"Quiet!" The Jellyfish snapped again.

Callie looked at him, and then down at her, as they sat in an excruciatingly awkward, painful, and strangely long silence, with nothing to hear but the ticking clock. Callie accidentally snickered a bit as the silence continued, earning a glare from Marie, and she immediately dropped her smile and looked down when she noticed.

"...Ok. You can go now." The Jellyfish announced after what felt like multiple minutes (really just 30 seconds).

Marie sighed and immediately stood up, suddenly taking Callie out of the room and into the hallway. They found a spot by some stairs, and waited for the late bell to ring again so that they could talk in private.

"Ok, so, what's wrong?" Callie asked her.

"It's Josh."

"Oh, good grief." She rubbed her forehead.

"What?"

"You already broke up with him. He tried to flirt with me and cheat on you, and we've already determined that he's been cheating on a _lot_ of girls. Can't you just… I dunno… let this go?"

"What do you mean, 'let this go'? I have been letting it go."

"Then why are you already bringing this up again?"

"Because I got a call from his number, but… he didn't pick up. Someone got him, Callie. I think it's the Octarians. They got him and they're threatening him, and they want us to meet them in…" She looked at her phone. "…20 minutes from now."

Callie gave her a somewhat unamused look. "…Dude…"

"What?"

"That is clearly, 100% a trap. Don't you watch movies?"

"Of course I do, you know I like to watch movies with you, but this is-"

"Forget him! I don't think they're really gonna hurt him and we'd most likely be walking into a trap if we went! How am I the voice of reason right now?"

"Voice of reason? I don't want Josh to get hurt if they're being serious! He was an ass, yes, but I'm not just sitting by while they-"

At that moment, Callie's phone buzzed as she got a call. She pulled it out and looked at it. "...It's Gramps."

Marie noticed. "…Put it on speaker phone."

She nodded and did so as she answered. "Hi, Gramps."

 _"Young lady! Where are you?"_ Cuttlefish definitely seemed to be in a hurry.

"Call me Agent 1." She reminded him. "And I'm at school… why?"

_"Where's Marie?"_

"H-Hello, Gramps, I'm here." Marie responded, having an idea of what he was calling for. "…W-What's up?"

_"There was a break-in at the Zapfish plant just this morning!"_

Callie's eyes widened. "What!?"

_"I think it was Evelyn and her team!"_

"Oh, no…" Marie replied.

_"That's not even the worst of it. I need you to get to Ink-Central Park as soon as possible! I heard on the radio that their plan is nearly complete and they'll have the Great Zapfish soon! In the next half hour soon!"_

She looked at Callie. "That's where they said they'd have Josh."

_"Josh?"_

"They… um… long story short, they have a captive… they're extorting me to go over there."

"I told her that it sounds like a trap!" Callie bragged.

Marie rolled her eyes.

Cuttlefish paused as he thought about it. _"…It may be… but I need you both to head over there and at least see what's going on. If you try to not get into a dangerous situation. But we can't let them get the Great Zapfish."_

"I understand."

"Got it! You can count on us! This is Agents 1 and 2, signing off!" She hung up, earning a good cringe-induced look from Marie. "…What?"

Marie sighed. "…We have to go, now. The clock's ticking." She started to march to the nearest exit. "Our outfits are still at the hotel, so we-"

"Wait!" She stopped her.

"What?" She turned around to look at her.

"…I maybe brought my outfit here to the school. It's in my locker."

"...Why?"

"Beee…cause I was excited?" She awkwardly shrugged.

"...You- I-" She stopped and groaned a little. They didn't have time to argue about it, and she supposed it _was_ convenient for the circumstances. "…Fine, just meet me at the fucking park as soon as possible." She turned at started running to the nearest exit.

"Got it!" Callie started running to her locker.

It only took her a couple minutes to reach her locker in the seemingly empty hallway, and she began desperately spinning in her combination. "Come on, come on, come on, come on…" It took some failed attempts because of how overly desperate she was, but she soon got it open, revealing her books and her Hero Outfit. "YES!"

"Ms. Cuttlefish." A voice said behind her.

"WHAT!?" She suddenly slammed the locker back shut, not wanting anyone to see her secret agent outfit, before turning to see Principal Hertz, hands on his hips. "…Um… hello…"

"Sluffing again? Hm. What a shocker. Not to mention that I've heard about some of the other stuff you've been up to."

"...Well… I…"

"My office. Now." He started marching in the direction of his office.

"...Uhhhh…" She didn't exactly know an easy way out of this.

* * *

**Ink-Central Park**

At this point, Evelyn and her team had had just arrived at the park, and got situated at the parking lot, where there was a large, strange puddle of purple ink.

"...What's up with all the ink?" Josh asked as Evelyn pushed her toward it.

"Don't worry about it." Evelyn responded, simply pushing him until they were standing over it.

Josh's eyes widened a bit as he looked down, feeling that the ink felt strangely… alive.

"Now, let me make something clear. You try to run, you die. You scream, you die. You so much as breathe too hard, you die. Let the trap do as it's intended. Try not to squirm too much. Ok?"

"...O-Ok…"

"Perfect. After this is all over, we'll hopefully never see each other again. And you can go back to your… girlfriends."

"...Thank you…"

"Welcome."

"Ma'am." An Octoling behind her said. "It's time."

* * *

**A Few Minutes Later**

Marie soon landed down near the park from her last super jump, now fully equipped in her Hero Outfit and with her charger. A couple people nearby where she jumped look at her in confusion.

She ignored them and started making her way inside the park, speaking into the earpiece that came with the outfit. "Gramps. I'm here."

 _"Oh, good. Is Agent 1 with you?"_ Cuttlefish said on the other line.

"Not yet. But she should be on her way."

_"Good. Keep me updated."_

She nodded and did another smaller super jump to land directly in the park, on a hill that stood nearby the parking lot where the supposed trap was. She ducked down into a sniper position, surveying the area. It seemed to be a pretty uneventful day at the park, as not too many people were around, but there was one suspicious detail; a strange puddle of ink, and a figure that did resemble Josh standing on top of it.

"...Hm…" She definitely didn't wanna go down there alone. She pressed the earpiece again. "…Callie? Come in. Where are you?" She was getting nothing but silence. "…Callie? You there? Callie? Can you hear me? …Agent 1? Please? I'm scared…" She sighed. "Dammit, Callie, where are you?"

* * *

**Back at the School**

"Do you understand now why you can't just throw bananas at other students during lunch and scream monkey noises at them just because you think it'd be funny to start a food fight?" Principal Hertz continued, seated at his own desk.

"…Yes?" Callie said half-heartedly. She was seated in the guest chair across from him, looking pretty restless.

"And why you can't just encourage girls to graffiti sexual remarks in the boy's bathroom?"

"...To be fair, I didn't just encourage them and I'm trying to not do that anymore."

"Excuse me?"

She just realized she shouldn't have said that. "Nothing."

* * *

**Back at the Park**

Marie waited for several minutes before she groaned and decided she was probably gonna have to do this alone. She was probably just gonna give Callie a piece of her mind later. She spoke back into the earpiece. "…Callie's a no-show. …I'm gonna go in."

 _"Be careful, young lady."_ Cuttlefish responded.

She took a deep breath and finally launched off in yet another super jump, landing down on the parking lot, a few feet away from the ink puddle.

Josh turned to her, standing completely alone. "…Marie? That you? My god, it's good to see you again…"

"No, no, no, zip it. I'm not here for that." She held her charger up in a defensive way as she slowly walked up. "…Where are the Octarians?"

"Um… about that…"

"Just tell me… I'll get you out of here… hopefully without a scratch… on me…"

"I-It's kind of a complicated situation…"

"I know… whole thing's crazy, I get that…"

"Yeah, it really is… hey, listen… about all the stuff, that I told you, when I said I loved you and whatnot…"

Marie sighed a little. Apparently this was happening.

"I just want you to know, that-" He was interrupted as some kind of tentacle suddenly emerged from the ink and grabbed his leg. He yelped like a girl.

"Josh!?" Her eyes widened.

It started pulling on him, and he desperately tried to break free. Marie aimed her charger at it, but it didn't take the tenctacle much effort to suddenly pull Josh down all the way down into the ink, and he disappeared entirely. She lowered her charger, eyes wide.

Some purple electricity started emerging from the ink, as Marie stared at it in confusion, backing up.

 _"What's going on?"_ Cuttlefish requested.

"...I don't know… Josh just…" Before she could continue, a bright yellow light suddenly erupted, and she screamed as she backed up further. The light was even enough to catch the attention of farther away people. Marie stared in horror as something pretty large started slowly emerging from the ink. "Gramps! Something's happening!"

_"Marie, get out of there!"_

"B-But it took Josh!"

Suddenly, as the light subsided, a loud, robot roar could be heard, causing the area to vibrate a bit. Marie looked up, seeing that the object was an unfairly large machine; it seemed to be some kind of massive box with a poorly detailed face, and what was basically large hammers for hands, that were attached to robot arms. Regardless, it was pretty fucking terrifying to her.

"HOLY MOTHER OF-" Was all she could say before it suddenly swung a hammer at her, striking the ground, and she just _barely_ dodged out of the way. Some nearby cars shook from the impact, and their alarms started going off. Anyone who was nearby was screaming and evacuating the area.

Marie scrambled back up to her feet as she looked at the machine. It luckily seemed fairly slow, and was still recovering from its attack. A tentacle briefly emerged from its head, wriggling around a bit, before it disappeared back inside.

 _"Marie Cuttlefish!"_ Evelyn's voice could be heard from the machine. _"I want you to meet my Great Octoweapon! Ain't he cute!?"_

"Not really!" Marie yelled back, staring at its ugly face.

_"Hey, where's your cousin? It's important that she's here, I was hoping to meet up with both of you."_

"What did you do with Josh!?"

 _"Oh, don't worry. He's still alive. But, you won't be in a minute!"_ The Octoweapon somewhat slowly banged its hammers together. _"You're about to get turned into Calamari!"_

"Gramps! What do I do!?" Marie screamed in a panic.

 _"Get out of there! I'm not letting you get hurt!"_ Cuttlefish repeated.

 _"Get ready!"_ Evelyn announced as the Octoweapon came in for another strike. Marie dodged out of the way again, and the Earth once again shook underneath them. It had to take another second to recover, before it stepped forward and attempted to strike her again.

Marie, for some reason, didn't feel so compelled to back off. Perhaps it was partially because this thing did seem slow, but at the same time, she just knew that she couldn't back down. The mission was too important. Mustering her bravery, instead of backing off, she aimed her charger up at it, charged it up, and blasted some green ink in its face. However, it didn't seem to affect it at all, and simply bounced off. It looked at her.

"Oh, shit." Marie backed up again as it again stepped forward, this time slamming down both hammers at once. A larger quake shook them this time, and more cars nearby were activating car alarms.

Using the opportunity, Marie reached back to her earpiece. "CALLIE, WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU!?"

* * *

**Back at the School**

A girl was typing away on her phone as she entered the girl's bathroom. She was having a 'meh' day, and was currently in a texting frenzy as she got into the fourth argument with her boyfriend today. Whatever. Just a normal day for her, really.

Not really paying attention, she attempted to walk past one of the closed stalls, when the door suddenly barged open… right in her face. She dropped her phone and fell down, grabbing her nose. "OW! WHAT THE, FUCKING, MOTHER-DAMMIT, PIECE OF FUCKING SHIT, CUNT-ASS-…" She continued yelling off a bunch of swears.

Callie, having changed into her own Hero Outfit, stared down at her. "…Oh my god… I'm so sorry…" She didn't stay for long, however, as she desperately grabbed her backpack and ran out, accidentally hitting her with it again on the way. She screamed in anger.

* * *

**Back at the Park**

A few minutes had passed has Marie unloaded some more desperate shots of ink at the Octoweapon's face, before it angrily swung at her again, the tentacle briefly emerging again. She just barely dodged out of the way, and tried to flee for some distance, as it was too close for comfort. The Octoweapon wasn't having that, however, and suddenly swung its hammer at a car this time, knocking it toward her.

Marie screamed when she noticed and used her squid form to duck out of the way, and it crashed to the ground beside her, its glass shattering.

 _"God… just die already!"_ Evelyn's voice could be heard again, as it walked toward her and slammed down both of its hammers again.

Marie dodged again, speaking back into her earpiece. "Gramps! Nothing I'm doing to this thing is working!"

 _"Are you sure that you don't see any kind of weak spot?"_ Cuttlefish responded.

She was about to respond, but was forced to dodge yet another strike and duck behind a car before she could. "No!"

It wasn't long until the car she hid behind suddenly lifted up, and she looked behind her in a panic.

 _"Why are you hiding?"_ Evelyn said as the Octoweapon tried to slam the car back down on top of her, which she of course dodged. _"WHY are you hiding!?"_

"BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO FUCKING DIE!" She responded, as she backed up and fired more ink shots at it.

 _"That charger is useless, you know. My Octoweapon is impenetrable!"_ Evelyn continued, as the tentacle once again briefly emerged from its head. In fact, Marie was starting to notice a pattern. The tentacle was doing that every time it made an attack, during the following recovery time.

"...The tentacle…" She thought about it. "…The tentacle!"

In her excitement, she had briefly forgotten about the hammers, and was actually struck by one at that moment. Luckily, she only got hit by the handle of the hammer rather than the actual thing, so the hit wasn't as heavy and hard-hitting as it could've been, but it was enough to send her flying and knock the charger out of her hand.

She landed a couple yards away, and rolled to a stop before settling on her stomach, while her charger landed elsewhere. She groaned in pain, already weakened.

 _"Finally."_ Evelyn sighed, and the Octoweapon marched over, towering above her. Marie looked at up it in fear. _"It's been fun, Cuttlefish!"_ It raised its hammer, and Marie, who was too stunned to move, ducked down into her squid form.

She braced for impact and closed her eyes, but after a few seconds… the hammer still wasn't coming down. In fact… she could hear… the sound of someone slashing a roller at it. She opened her eyes.

"Come get some!" Callie announced bravely as she flung as much as ink as she could at its backside, distracting it. Forgetting about Marie, it slowly turned around to face her, before attempting to slam down on her instead. She dodged again. "Holy, this thing's big!"

Marie transformed back to her humanoid form. "Callie!"

"Hi, I'm here!" She continued flinging more ink at it. "Sorry, Principal Hertz got mad at me!" She then jumped to dodge another strike. "So, what's the deal!? How are we gonna stop this thing!?"

"There's a tentacle on it's head! That might be a weak spot!" She shouted back, starting to slowly get up.

 _"Ha! Good luck with that!"_ Evelyn replied. _"Your puny roller is never gonna reach it!"_

"Oh, yeah!?" Callie challenged, backing up and attempting to fling some ink up at where the tentacle was. Like Evelyn had predicted, it wasn't quite reaching it. "…Yeah, Marie, my roller isn't gonna help with that!"

"I need my charger!" Marie finally got back up to her feet. "I just don't know where it is!"

"Then look for it! I'll keep it distracted!" She continued flinging ink at the machine as she dodged more attacks.

Marie nodded and started running around the cars to look for it. However, the Octoweapon knew what they were trying to do.

 _"Oh, no, you don't!"_ Evelyn shouted as it turned back to Marie, slamming its hammer down on a car next to her. Marie screamed as she backed off.

"Hey!" Callie leaped off a car and flung more ink at it. "Eyes on me, you big dummy!"

 _"Don't call me a dummy! I'm smart!"_ Evelyn continued, but didn't take its focus off Marie.

Marie dodged and rolled past several more attacks, inadvertently getting more cars destroyed. She was unable to do anything, pretty much. "This thing's not leaving me alone!"

Callie, who was pretty helpless as well at this point, did finally take notice of Marie's charger, which had landed underneath a car. She, however, decided to not directly announce it. "…Marie! I have an idea!"

"What!?"

Without saying anything, she suddenly chucked her roller at her.

Marie caught it. "…You know I don't really do well with rollers, right!?"

"And I'm not good at chargers!" She went over and picked it up.

She didn't understand at first, but soon suddenly hit her. "…Oh! Ok!"

While the Octoweapon was too focused on Marie, Callie got up on top of a car, charged up the weapon, and aimed it up. She waited for it to attack again, and as soon as the tentacle was exposed again, fired a shot. And… completely missed. She fired another one, and missed somehow in the opposite direction.

Evelyn was now catching on to their plan. The Octoweapon slowly turned to her, and she gulped. Perhaps playing with the charger wasn't actually smart.

"Yeah, ok, I'm _really_ not good at chargers!" Callie backed up as the machine headed back toward her.

 _"You girls don't know what you're dealing with!"_ Evelyn spoke up again. _"Just give up!"_

"...Wanna play hot potato!?" She shouted, seemingly randomly, as the Octoweapon prepared another attack.

"What!?" Marie shouted back.

Callie only responded by chucking the charger back in Marie's direction, and Marie _immediately_ understood as it hurled in the air toward her. What happened next happened in a mere instant.

The Octoweapon slammed down both its hammers toward Callie, and she just _barely_ dodged with a defenseless scream, as Marie caught the charger out of the air and aimed it as fast as possible. The Octoweapon's tentacle emerged, and Marie fired one pinpoint-accurate shot at it from afar just before it could disappear again, and it immediately popped.

A fountain of purple ink spewed from the hole that the tentacle came out of, as the Great Octoweapon shuddered and began to power down. The cousins both watched as it started twitching, and even started glowing.

 _"NO!"_ Evelyn shouted as the glowing and twitching got more intense. Callie and Marie both covered their eyes, unable to take the brightness, and a massive **SPLASH!** sound erupted as it abruptly exploded, covering the entire parking lot in green ink. Both girls got covered in it.

Callie was standing still with her eyes still closed for a moment, before she opened them and noticed, attempting to shake it off. "Bleh!"

Marie simply wiped herself off a bit and looked at where the Octoweapon used to be, panting a bit. On the ground, Josh could be seen, seemingly unconscious, next to a Zapfish. A real, live Zapfish. "Oh my god…" She ran up.

It took another moment for Callie to get what was happening, but she ran up as well. Marie lifted Josh up and started smacking his face a bit, while Callie picked up the Zapfish.

"Come on, wake up!" Marie yelled. "Please don't be dead, please!"

It took a moment, but Josh's eyes soon fluttered open a bit. "…Hm…"

She sighed in relief.

"...What happened…?"

"I dunno… where the hell did you come from?" Callie looked around, confused. "Are you… are you a ghost?"

Marie sighed. "You were inside the Octoweapon…"

"...Oh…" Josh had to take a moment to let his mind catch up, and Marie took his hand to help him up. "Thanks… Marie…"

"And Callie…" Callie muttered.

"Sorry. And Carly. Hey, by the way."

"...Did you just call me Carly?"

He then looked back and forth at them. "…What are you wearing?"

Marie ignored him. "Josh, listen to me very carefully. The Octarians are going to steal the Great Zapfish. Somehow in this area. I need to know what their plan is. What are they doing?"

"Here… in the park?"

"Yeah…" Callie looked around. "…Matter of fact, I don't even see any Octarians here."

"...I don't think you girls understand." Josh replied.

"...Understand what?"

"The Octoweapon was just a distraction. The Evelyn chick isn't even here."

Her eyes widened slightly as she looked at Marie, who looked back.

"...Where are they?" Marie asked.

* * *

**A Few Minutes Later**

**Evelyn's Hideout**

"We're leaving!" Evelyn announced to the other Octolings as she walked up to the now complete and fully operational jet, which was now right outside the warehouse.

"What about the Cuttlefish family?" Another Octoling asked.

"We'll have to worry about them later! For now, let's just get that Great Zapfish secured!"

She nodded and simply went up to the pilot seat, and Evelyn marched on board with only a couple other Octolings.

Unbeknownst to them, however, Josh had already led Callie and Marie back to the warehouse, and they arrived there at that moment via super jumps, Callie still holding the Zapfish.

"Son of a bitch…" Marie muttered when she saw they were already ready.

Evelyn, now in the jet, turned and noticed them. "…Son of a bitch." She turned to the pilot. "Take off! Take off now!"

"But, ma'am, I need a moment to close the ba-."

"I SAID TAKE OFF!"

In response, she started the jet and started driving forward, despite the fact that it was sill open.

"We have to go! We have to go now!" Marie yelled as she started chasing.

"Are you serious!?" Callie returned, terrified.

"Yes!"

"Um… uh…" Desperately, she suddenly turned and handed the Zapfish to Josh before she followed Marie. "Take care of that thing!"

"What!? Ew!" Josh returned as he awkwardly held it.

The jet started to lift up from the ground, and Marie desperately launched off into a super jump in an attempt to land into the still opened backside, into the loading bay. Callie followed suit.

Josh simply stood still as he watched.


	6. Vertigo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the finale, Callie and Marie board the jet for the final fight with Evelyn.

The exit/entry hatch remained open as the Octarian jet finally lifted into the air and took off. Everyone in the jet that wasn't already seated, including Evelyn, grabbed onto something to ensure that they weren't sucked out, while Evelyn watched as Callie, Marie, and Josh were left behind on the ground.

"Close it now!" Evelyn commanded.

A red light flashed as the hatch started to slowly close, so slowly that it was dramatic. In fact, it wasn't nearly fast enough to stop the sudden entrance of the soaring green squid, who super jumped in with a mixture of aiming skill and straight up luck. Evelyn gasped as Marie crash landed into her humanoid form, landing in the middle of the jet.

Callie was next, and although she wasn't as accurate with her super jump, she was able to crash onto the hatch itself, clinging on for dear life as she dangled from it. "HOLY SHIT!"

Marie, holding her charger, quickly scrambled to grab onto something as well to make sure she wasn't sucked right back out, and as the jet was finally finishing the closing process, Callie used her squid form to just barely slip in in time, before it sealed shut. She changed back into her humanoid form and scrambled to her feet, gripping her roller.

Evelyn's sights were set on Marie, who was still getting up as Octolings surrounded her. "You persistent little worm!" She pulled out her own weapon. "Couldn't even surrender yourself to my Octoweapon like a good girl, could you!?"

"Well, we're not exactly quitters." Marie gripped her charger, quite shaky after the dangerous feat they just pulled. "Hey, and uh, speaking of surrender…"

Before Evelyn could truly process what she just said, Callie slashed her roller at her backside while she was distracted, and she exploded into a mess of ink as she was splatted.

"YES! I got her!" Callie bragged.

Marie smiled, but their job was far from done; there was 3 other Octolings on board, including the pilot, and she had already caught on that they there.

_"Coordinates set, for: Inkopolis Plaza."_ An artificial voice spoke on the speaker, before the pilot abruptly sped up the jet. On the outside, lights erupted from the engines as the jet shot off like a bullet, heading toward uptown Inkopolis. As a result, everyone on board that wasn't seated was suddenly tossed off their feet, hurling toward the back of the jet.

"Callie!" Marie yelled as she was separated from her, trying to best to hold out her hand, and to just keep up with everything that was going on.

_"Have a nice flight."_ The voice finished politely.

"Thank you, strange voice lady!" Callie responded, as she tried her best to get back on her feet. It took a moment, but the jet started to slow down, and as their bodies got caught up with the momentum, they were both able to get back up.

Two of the other Octolings, who were also incapacitated, scrambled to get their weapons, but Callie managed to splat another one with her roller. The second closest one managed to grab hers, but was splatted by a charge shot from Marie.

The pilot looked behind her, seeing the situation, just as Callie and Marie did a quick celebratory high five. "Hm…" Deciding to take some action, she turned forward, and flew the plane out of the flight path, before piloting it straight upward to throw them off.

"WOAH!" Callie and Marie were, once again, thrown off their feet, before the pilot then began flying the jet into random directions, tossing them all over the place. Marie tried to hang onto something to her best ability, as she lost her grip on her charger, while Callie was thrown into a wall, then the other wall, then the floor, then the ceiling at one point.

"CALLIE!" Marie screamed trying and failing to grab her.

The pilot looked behind her to see what their status was, before flying in yet another random direction.

This time, Callie was sent hurling straight at Marie, and they both screamed again as they collided, causing Marie to lose her grip and start flying around with her.

Only when both of them were airborne did the pilot finally slow down again. The cousins finally crashed against the floor, but not before Callie hit her head somewhat hard, leaving her lying there limply. The pilot put it on autopilot and grabbed her weapon as she stood up.

Marie noticed and desperately crawled over to shake her awake. "Callie…?"

"Hm…" was all Callie could respond with.

"Callie!" She tried to shake her again, but was interrupted as the pilot walked up to her, holding an Octo Shot to her head.

"...Put em' up." She commanded.

Marie didn't respond.

"NOW!"

She sighed and slowly raised her hands, a defeated expression on her face.

"Stand up."

Not having much of a choice, she slowly lifted herself to her feet, hands behind her head.

"You girls are quite the troublemakers, huh? I bet you get yelled at a lot in school." She gloated.

Callie lifted her head up a little. Her ears were ringing as if she had a concussion, but she did her best to ignore it. "Well, she did get detention today, and the principal hates me, so-"

"Quiet!"

She frowned. "You asked…"

Marie examined the situation. As far as she could tell, the pilot was the only unsplatted Octoling left in the jet, and the cousins weren't currently armed. She was, however, able to see both her charger and Callie's roller on the floor where they had happened to land. Callie saw as well, and since she wasn't being actively threatened, started to crawl toward her roller.

The pilot quickly noticed and turned her weapon on her instead. "Hey!"

Callie stopped what she was doing and turned to her, while Marie immediately took the opportunity to duck away in her squid form. "Oh… I'm sorry… did you not want me to move?" She said, awkwardly.

"Yes. Don't move." She commanded. "You girls are gonna be doing something for me."

As Marie silently snuck toward her own weapon, Callie decided to keep the focus on herself. She suddenly overdramatically sighed. "Oh, god… I hate doing things for people… like… it reminds me of a story…"

"What? What story?"

"Oh, I'm so glad you asked. See, I once knew this guy, who knew this guy, who knew this guy… who knew this _girl…_ right? You following?"

The Octoling opened her mouth to say something, but wasn't able to get anything out as Callie continued.

"Her name was… Cinderella." She cleared her throat awkwardly. "She… um… was a slave. Like… me. You know, her mom, or whoever the fuck she was, made her do things. And all she did all day was do things that other people told her to do. Even her ugly sisters were in on the action."

The Octoling just stared at her in confusion, listening to her story intently, as Marie slowly snuck around her. Callie even crawled away a bit as she talked, wanting to make sure she didn't accidentally see Marie slithering away.

"-And in the end, the glass shoe broke, and everyone died." Callie finished after a moment.

"...How did everyone die?" The pilot asked.

"...The witch put a curse on everyone." She made up.

"...You made that up."

"...No, I didn't. Do you see now why making people do things is wrong?"

"Enough nonsense! Witches aren't real! What's your game here!?"

She shot a glance at Marie, before she looked back at her. "…I'm distracting you, you big turd blossom."

She raised an eyebrow and turned to follow her gaze, but wasn't able to do much as Marie fired a decently accurate charger shot at her, splatting her. They both sighed in relief.

"Finally…" Callie stumbled back up to her feet, holding her head. Her ears started ringing again.

Marie picked up the roller and handed it to her. "Nice, um… story." She lied.

"Thanks…" She took it. "…I did make half of it up."

"I could tell." She then walked over the pilot seat. "But now we have to throw off their plan." As she got close to the window, she could see that they were close to their destination, Inkopolis Plaza, under the autopilot. "…Scary part is that I don't know how to fly…"

Callie walked up as well, although a bit more slowly as to not irritate her concussion. "…So what do we do?"

She pressed the button on her earpiece. "Gramps."

_"Young lady!"_ Cuttlefish quickly responded. _"What's going on? Are you hurt?"_

"Bruised up, but we're fine. We managed to board the Octarian plane and take out everyone inside, but their plan is still in motion since they're on autopilot."

_"Can you take the jet off course?"_

"...You know that I don't know how to fly, right?"

_"...You might not have much a choice, young lady."_

Marie looked over the complicated-looking control scheme, making a slight "meep" sound as she did. Callie, meanwhile, was looking elsewhere in the jet.

_"...Young lady?"_

"Yeah, no I heard you. Just… having a panic attack, I think…" Marie responded.

He thought about it. _"…I'm guessing the jet is Zapfish-powered?"_

"...Well… I don't know… I mean… the Octoweapon was, but-"

At that moment, Callie pressed a button on the wall, creating a brief alarm sound that caught both of their attention. A slit in the wall retracted and slid out of view in front of Callie, revealing the beautiful glow of a Zapfish. "Woah…" She breathed, as the Zapfish stared back at her, within a small force-field that connected it to a power generator.

"...Ok, yeah, it is." Marie finished.

"I found the power source!" Callie bragged.

"I can see that, dummy!"

_"...You're gonna have to land it."_ Cuttlefish continued.

"...I-I don't know how to-"

_" I used to fly fighter planes back in the Great Turf War days. I can help walk you through it. Maybe."_

Marie turned back to the controls. "…Um…" She looked back out the window, now able to see Inkopolis Plaza. She had to make her move now. "…Ok… I'm gonna take it off of autopilot now…" She hesitated for several seconds before she gripped the wheel and turned off autopilot. The plane immediately seemed to veer off course, and Marie started slowly turning it away from the plaza, even if she was struggling to keep it straight. "…I think I'm doing it…"

_"Keep it steady…"_

Callie walked up to watch her, seemingly not paying too much attention. "…Wow, Marie, I didn't know that you know how to fly."

"I don't, Callie, shut up." Marie responded.

_"Find a place to land it."_ Cuttlefish said.

"I'm working on it…" She said, although she was still working on keeping the plane straight in the first place.

Callie watched from behind her, seeing that Marie was struggling. "…Yeah, ok, do you think I can have a-" Suddenly, a rope was thrown around her neck, strangling her as someone pulled back on it. She gagged as she was pulled back.

Although it was a more silent gag, Marie looked behind her, seeing that Evelyn had already reformed after being splatted, and was currently strangling Callie. "Callie!?" She quickly and desperately turned autopilot back on, before she stood up and ran over.

Evelyn briefly let go of Callie to smack her out of the way, knocking her aside, before she went right back to strangling Callie, who was getting desperate for air. "This is for the mall… and for my baby Octoweapon…"

In fight-or-flight, Callie elbowed her in the face to break free, and finally gasped for air as she was briefly released. Evelyn, however, quickly recovered, and punched her back, only making her concussion worse before she grabbed her and tossed her aside.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" Marie punched her in the back of the head, but then wavered after it hurt her hand more than she expected. Evelyn looked at her, before punching her as well and then strangling her with her bare hands.

Callie's ears were now ringing like crazy, but luckily for her, she had landed right next to her roller. Although it hurt her to even stand up now, she had to act to protect Marie. Gritting her teeth, she quickly moved over and slashed her roller at her.

Evelyn wasn't having any of that, though, and actually pushed Marie out of the way before she did a straight up backflip to dodge the ink, before casually landing back on her feet. Marie collapsed to the ground, now also gasping for air.

"...Holy shit…" Callie stared at her, actually impressed.

"Still want more?" Evelyn responded.

She only responded by walking up to her and slashing her roller at her more times, but again to her surprise, she used parkour moves to dodge every single one of them, before kicking her away.

Marie grabbed her charger and tried to snipe her with it, but Evelyn saw the aiming line and again dodged her shots.

"Fucking…!" Marie groaned as she fired more shots until she ran out of ink.

Before she could walk over to her, Callie again rejoined the action, slashing her roller at her some more, which she of course dodged. "COME ON, NINJA GIRL!"

After Marie quickly refilled her ink, the cousins were able to gang up on her this time, but Evelyn was proving too fast for them, and was dodging all of their attacks, while also countering with some of her own, mainly punches and kicks as she was opting to not use her weapon. She kicked Marie's charger out of her hand, before she kicked her aside entirely and was able to focus entirely on Callie; she effortlessly dodged all her roller swings, before she rid her of her weapon as well and shoved her against the wall. Callie screamed out in pain.

"I'm not about to let my pride be wiped out about a couple teenagers…" Evelyn hissed, holding her still. "I'm going to end your lives… I'm not going to splat you… I'm going to _kill_ you _…_ and I'm going to enjoy it…"

That actually kind of freaked Callie out. "…Uh… can I at least write my will first!?"

As Evelyn started strangling her again, Marie got up on one knee, grabbing her charger again. It was clear that taking Evelyn on directly seemed pretty hopeless, at least for their skills, but if she could take another way out… should she? She did have one idea. One crazy, potentially life-threatening idea. She aimed her charger _away_ from Evelyn before she pulled the trigger, and instead fired a shot of ink straight at the Zapfish cage. It immediately smashed opened.

Immediately, some sparks erupted from some parts of the jet as an alarm sounded.

_"Warning! Warning! The plane's central power source has been deactivated."_ The automatic voice spoke again. _"Now running on emergency backup power."_

Evelyn turned to see what happened, and gasped, letting go of Callie as she ran over to it. "NO!"

Callie again collapsed to the floor, gasping for air.

Evelyn reached inside and started trying to tinker with the power generator the Zapfish was supposed to be connected to. "Come on, come on… work!"

The Zapfish, however, wasn't happy, _and_ was in its charged up state. It blinked as it looked at her, starting to form more sparks than usual from its whiskers. Callie and Marie both turned to look, as its eyes even then started glowing a bit.

Evelyn stared back, realizing she just made a mistake. "…Uh oh…"

A squeal escaped the Zapfish's mouth as a large zap of electricity struck Evelyn, knocking her back and burning her all at once. She collapsed by the wall on the opposite side of the jet, unconscious.

Marie panted a bit as she watched in amazement, before she pulled her attention back to Callie. She went over to help her up. "Callie!"

Callie stood up with her help. "…Thanks… um… did you know that Zapfish could do that?"

She sighed. "…When they're charged up and provoked… I forgot… you have a D in biology…"

"At least it's not an F." She repeated with her usual shrug.

"Are you hurt…?"

"My head hurts and my ears are still ringing… but I think I'm ok…"

Before they could talk more, more sparks started to erupt from the walls, and the AI voice started to repeat its prior warning. They looked around.

"...What do we do?" Callie asked, nervously.

Marie ran up to the front of the jet, and tried to tinker around with some of the controls, but saw that they had been deactivated along with the Zapfish's energy. "…Controls are out."

"Uh… where are we…?" Callie said, staring out the window with wide eyes.

Marie looked up as well. "…Oh no…"

During their confrontation with Evelyn, the jet's autopilot had apparently opted to just fly straight forward after Marie left it, and they had already left the city boundaries, flying over the lake toward nearby mountains. Given the lack of controls, they were being taken toward certain death if they didn't make a move.

"Oh god, oh fuck…" Callie backed up a little, breaking down into a panic attack as she realized their predicament.

"Callie, look at me!" She grabbed her face to pull her toward her. "I need you to stay calm!"

"Stay calm!? WE'RE ABOUT TO FUCKING DIE!"

"I have one last crazy idea! I need you to grab the Zapfish!"

Callie nodded and shakily ran over to do so, seeing the Zapfish had calmed down from its charged up state, and remained blissfully unaware of their impending death. She pulled it out, and it luckily reacted much more positively to her than it did to Evelyn.

As she did that, Marie opened up the hatch. "Hold onto something!"

Luckily, the hatch _was_ being powered by the emergency power, and slowly opened. Callie and Marie crawled along the wall and then sat down next to it, holding on to make sure they didn't get sucked out prematurely. Unfortunately for them, Inkopolis was already a terrifying distance away, and they were surrounded by water.

Callie screamed slightly when she saw, gripping the Zapfish tightly.

"Callie! We have to super jump!" Marie yelled above the sound of the harsh wind.

"What!? I-I've never done a super jump this large! We'll never make it!"

"People have done it! We just really have to charge it up and focus!"

"...I-I don't think I can!"

"Just trust me! Listen to me!" She held out her hand. "Squid Sisters forever! Alright!?"

She stared at her hand in disbelief. She thought they were already scrapping the Squid Sisters name. "…Are you sure!?"

"Positive!"

"...Squid Sisters forever!" She took her hand.

"Good! Then let's jump!" She turned into her squid form, and start building up as large a jump as she could muster. Callie was still a bit hesitant, but did the same. After charging up for about 10 seconds, they finally launched off in the largest super jumps either of them had ever accomplished, even if it took all their strength to do so. They actually created a bit of a sonic boom as they leaped away.

After they were gone, Evelyn finally came to, confused to the situation. Luckily for her, she was stuck to a chair that was preventing her from being straight up sucked out, and she rubbed her head as she slowly got up, holding onto the wall. She looked around and blinked as more sparks erupted, and the voice again repeated its warning.

Slowly, she crawled her way up to the controls, where she desperately closed the button to close the hatch back up. As it closed and sealed itself, she sighed in relief, before properly standing up. She brushed herself off, only feeling mildly annoyed at the situation. She would get those pesky agents someday. She would get her revenge, even if it meant doing something drastic like travelling the whole world just to find them. She would absolutely get her revenge. She swore it. Nothing would stand in her way.

…Then she looked out the window. "...Oh, motherf-"

The jet crashed into the side of the mountain and immediately engulfed itself in a massive explosion before Evelyn could even finish her swear.

* * *

Back in Inkopolis, things seemed pretty silent by the fence that blocked off the lake. That was, until the green squid suddenly crashed landed onto a patch of grass, followed by Callie. They had slipped unconscious due to the intensity of the super jump they just accomplished, although the Zapfish was still awake and was still in Callie's arm. It shuddered a little as it looked around.

"...Hm…" Marie's eyes fluttered open after a moment. She looked around, and Callie soon followed suit. She looked down, feeling her body.

"...We're alive…?" Callie grumbled.

"...We're alive…" Marie returned.

After they sat up and regained their senses, they looked at each other. They just successfully completed their mission. "…WE'RE ALIVE!" They suddenly screamed at each other in unison.

"Squid Sisters forever!" Marie smiled.

"SQUID SISTERS FOREVER! HAHAHA!" Callie lunged forward and pulled her into a hug.

The Zapfish only responded with a happy squeal, now safe once more, as the sun proudly beamed down on the city.

* * *

**Later**

**Location: Classified**

An Octoling walked down an underground hallway, past some somewhat dim lights and large, Octarian symbols on the walls, as the made her way to her bosses office. She opened the door and entered. "Sir."

"Hm…?" The older Octarian, the man who never liked to be in his humanoid form, mumbled from his chair, his back facing her.

"...We lost Evelyn. And her jet. The mission was a failure."

"Oh?"

"Her… team reported that she was MIA and then just confirmed her fatality."

"...And what of the Great Octoweapon?"

"It was destroyed."

"...Well… we weren't always sure that our plan was going to work." He sighed.

"I suppose not…" She paused. "…What do we do next?"

"...It may take a few years to pull off… but perhaps if we make our next attempt more… stealthy…" DJ Octavio turned in his chair, grabbing his wasabi from his desk. "…We can finally give Cap'n Cuttlefish a real beat. A beat he won't be able to handle." He grinned.

"Understood, sir." She nodded, before she walked out to continue on other priorities.

Octavio just sat there at his desk as he daydreamed on what was coming, starting to turn his DJ tables.

* * *

**The Next Week**

**Inkopolis High School**

Marie closed her locker as she slung her backpack over her shoulder and headed to her next class, sighing a little. Things had… definitely slowed down a lot ever since she and Callie completed their mission. The Octarians had already gone back silent, and the cousins had been left to their boring school life. For now, at least. Maybe the New Squidbeak Splatoon would be needed again someday, but even if so, that wasn't today.

"Hey!" Callie suddenly ran up to her.

"Hey, Cal." She smiled, walking with her. "…What'd the school nurse say about your concussion?"

"That I have a concussion." She shrugged. "I'm smarter than her, given that I figured it out before she did. She's useless."

"...Hm…" She replied awkwardly.

"...So… I was wondering if maybe later, you wanted to write more music? I have this melody stuck in my head, I'm thinking about calling it _'High-Color Evolution'_. Or, um… _'City of Color'._ " She smiled.

"That sounds great. I love writing music with you." She smiled wider at her. "I have this melody in my head, too… kinda thinking about it having something to do with ink."

" _'Ink Me Up'_?" Josh suddenly asked as he blocked their path, a bruise still on his head. "…Sounds like a cool name."

She jumped. "Jesus…"

"...That's a horrible name." Callie replied. "Too sexual. I would never, ever name a song that." She then thought about it. "…Actually, never mind, I kinda like it."

"What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk…" Josh replied. "After you… you know… saved my life…"

"We don't have to talk about anything." She folded her arms.

"But you… you saved my life… doesn't that mean, that, you know… you have feelings for me?" He smiled hopefully.

She sighed. "If anything, that just means I'm not a horrible person. Don't forget, you tried to cheat on me. And every girl in the school is starting to find about it."

"Hey, Josh!" A girl suddenly yelled from down the hall. "Fuck you!"

"You're gonna die alone!" Another girl yelled.

Josh looked around. "…Oh…"

"...Have a good life, Josh." Marie lowered her arms and walked past him. "I, uh… wish you luck, or whatever."

"...Yeah, ok…" He looked down, disappointed.

As Callie followed, however, she actually turned back to Josh, holding her hand to her face like a phone as she mouthed 'Call me', before she winked and went to catch up with Marie.

Marie looked at her a bit before she kept walking to her next class.

"...So, um… what do you think is gonna happen next?" Callie asked.

"I dunno… we finished the mission… Gramps is busy with other things, it seems… we'll probably just settle down and write our own music for a while and make sure we don't flunk out of school…"

"...At least it'll be fun, right?"

"Yeah… but I have a feeling that things are going to be pretty slow for a while." She finished as the bell rang.

* * *

**A Few Days Later**

**The Night of the Talent Show**

The sun was setting on Inkopolis as people crowded at the school, getting ready for the long-awaited Talent Show. Every student who cared was there with their parents and/or other family members, as they all paid for admission and got seated in the auditorium. Things were going pretty according to plan.

Although Callie and Marie weren't allowed to participate, they had still been allowed backstage as students of Mr. Inkblot, and got to watch the show more close-up.

Callie sighed as she watched. "...We were supposed to go out there..."

"I know..." Marie rubbed her back. "...Maybe next time..."

"...Just makes me a little irked that we were outed because of our hair color..."

"...We did know going in that Mr. Inkblot is picky. No use fussing anymore. Ok?"

"...Ok..." She smiled a bit at her, as the talent show began to start.

Mr. Inkblot stepped up on stage, holding a microphone. "Hellooooo, Inkopolis High!"

The crowd cheered.

"Welcome to the Inkopolis High School Talent Show! Where some of our schools most talented, brightest, and best will be able to perform in front of you all to show just how magnificent our student body really is. And that's not all! The person who earns the most applause will be rewarded with a special opportunity to attend my father's proud school, Inkblot Art Academy, for free after they graduate!"

More applause from the audience.

"So, without further ado, let the talent show BEGIN!" He stepped off stage, and the first scheduled dancers came on.

Callie and Marie watched as the talent show went on for a while, and all of the students that were allowed on went one by one. Some of them were dancers, some of them just opted to sing, there was some comedians with skits, and one of them was an awkward kid with a creepy ventriloquist dummy. And although some of the students were earning pretty good applause, some of them weren't. In fact, some of the talent show was just met with awkward silence.

"...Oh, lord..." Marie sighed. How did Mr. Inkblot even pick these people?

Speaking of Mr. Inkblot... "Guys! Guys!" The angry teacher suddenly hissed at everyone that was backstage, motioning for them to group up. The cousins looked at each other before they awkwardly stood up and went over.

"Where's the last performance? Where is she!?"

"The dancer? Um... I heard she got pretty sick over the week." One girl responded.

"I heard she can barely stand." Someone else said.

"I heard she died." A third person interjected.

"She was supposed to be our best performance! Her dancing skills were exquisite! How are we supposed to close the talent show without her!?"

Callie and Marie looked at each other, as a familiar voice sounded from the backstage entrance. "Might I make a suggestion?"

They looked behind them to turn to the voice. "...Gramps?"

Cuttlefish smiled as he walked in, holding two bags. "Hi, young ladies."

"...Who are you?" Mr. Inkblot asked him, looking as if he was trying to hold in some pent up anger.

"Craig Cuttlefish!" He put down one bag to hold out his arm. "Great Turf War veteran."

He just stared at him, not shaking it.

"...Ok." He lowered his hand.

"What are you doing here?" Marie asked.

"I heard that you girls were having some trouble getting into the talent show. So, I came to lend a helping hand."

"Callie and Marie failed the tryouts." Inkblot folded his arms. "I'm not just letting them perform. We have standards here."

"Oh. Well, um... here's the thing. I have standards, too. And if I told you about all the hard work my granddaughters have been putting into their life for the past couple weeks, your jaw would drop to the floor. I came to make you an offer." He pulled out a 50-dollar bill. "In exchange for these 50 dollars, I want you to let them perform."

Callie and Marie looked at him, surprised.

Inkblot still didn't seem convinced. "...I just said. They failed the tryouts."

"Maybe." Cuttlefish said. "But that was two weeks ago. They've been practicing a lot more since then. I've seen them practice, in fact. It's a beautiful performance."

"We _have_ gotten more in sync, since then. Uh... sir." Callie said.

Inkblot looked back and forth at them, thinking it over. He wasn't taking the money, but he groaned regardless, not having much else of a choice if he wanted it to go his way. "...Fine. They'll have to take over for the final performance."

"Oh, great." Cuttlefish smiled and then pulled out a CD from one of the bags, handing it to him. "Here's the track, then. Oh, and I recommend making the lights green and pink for their performance. Really enhances their style."

He sighed and went to speedily prepare it, while Cuttlefish turned to his granddaughters.

Marie suddenly hugged him. "Oh, Gramps! You shouldn't have!"

Callie hugged him as well, squealing.

"Ah, it's no big deal." He responded. "I just really thought that I owed you after you stopped Evelyn for me."

"But, w-wait, we uh... don't have our outfits... you said they weren't even finished..." Callie said as they broke the hug.

"Oh, um... speaking of your outfits..." He handed them the bags.

They both took them and looked inside, eyes widening. "...No way..."

"You'd better go hurry and get changed. I'm sure you'll knock their socks off." He smiled. "I'll be watching the whole thing."

Marie was starting to tear up now, and she suddenly hugged him a second time. "...Thank you..."

He hugged her back. "You're welcome, young lady..." But, he quickly broke it. "Now, run off and hurry!"

"W-We will!" Marie ran off to the changing room, giggling in excitement.

Callie followed. "Thank you, Agent, uh... 0!"

"...Please just call me Gramps!" He waved them off.

* * *

Soon, as it was coming time for the final performance, Cuttlefish got situated in the back of the auditorium, holding up his camcorder to his best ability. As the second-to-last performance stepped off stage, the onstage spotlights turned green and pink as Cuttlefish had asked. He smiled as he watched, hitting the record button.

_"Ladies and gentlesquids."_ Mr. Inkblot announced from a speaker this time. _"We now present to you, the surprise final performance: ...Callie and Marie Cuttlefish._ _AKA, t_ _he Squid Sisters."_

The crown cheered as the lights came to center on Callie and Marie, who were now standing on the stage with their complete outfits that Cuttlefish had designed. They were near-matching low-cut dark blue dresses, with cute white hats, white gloves, and black shoes, while Marie's had a skirt. Underneath the main dresses were leather pants, green for Marie and pink for Callie, that went all the way up to their chest and were visible through slits in the dresses. The audience suddenly went ballistic just upon seeing their outfits, and the opening notes to Calamari Inkantation began blasting from the speakers.

The lights began flashing a little as their parts came on, and they immediately began singing their lines, completely in sync, as they started doing their dances. The audience was still cheering. And yet, it was only the intro to the song. As the beat dropped, the cousins both did poses, before continuing their dances in sync with the song. The audience was getting louder and louder, extremely impressed by their dancing and vocal skills, and Callie and Marie couldn't help but smile a bit at each other as they continued dancing.

Cuttlefish laughed in excitement as he continued recording, trying his best to hold the camera up as green and pink lights flashed through the whole auditorium.

Callie and Marie were enjoying every single second of it, having so much fun as they danced around the stage, even making some improvised moves with their dances, which again caught the audience off guard. An _"Ooooh"_ sound flooded the room, while Inkblot was staring at them from backstage, eyes wide with surprise.

After about 3 minutes, the closing lines to their song came on, and they again struck their pose as they concluding their dance. The audience was going absolutely ballistic, and lots of people were standing up as they applauded them.

Callie, overridden with joy, suddenly blew a kiss at the audience. "Staaaay FRESH!"

The audience again cheered to that, and they scurried off stage, giggling in excitement, while Mr Inkblot was forced to go back out to conclude the show and dismiss the audience. Even the other students in the backstage seemed extremely impressed.

"CALLIE, THAT WAS GREAT!" Marie squealed. "Did you hear the audience!?"

"I KNOW, they loved us! I think they actually loved us! It's like Calamari County all over again!" She shook with excitement.

"Loved _us_!? I think they loved _you_ more! I mean, with that surprise twirl you did-"

"Bullshit, what about your smile!? You were so great, Marie!"

"EEEEE, YOU TOO!" She hugged her, and she giggled as she hugged her back. "WE DID IT!"

"WE DIIIID IT!"

As they celebrated, other students began to crowd them. "That was great, you guys!"

"How'd you do that!?"

"That dance was beautiful!"

"Ahem..." Mr. Inkblot interrupted the scene as he came back from the stage as well, hands on his hips. Strangely, he didn't seem too happy.

Callie and Marie fell silent and frowned as they turned to him. "...Um... did we do something wrong?"

"No. You did nothing wrong. This is just... not how I expected today to go..."

"...You're still mad about our hair color, aren't you?" Callie accused.

He sighed and walked up, deciding to ignore the question. "Well, regardless, fair is fair... your applause was by far the loudest. You guys won by a landslide."

"YES!" Callie hugged Marie again, and the other students cheered for them, not even mad that they lost themselves.

"So, I suppose that means... you guys get to attend my father's academy for free. Um..." He held out a certificate. "Welcome to Inkblot. When you graduate, at least."

Marie looked at it. She had forgotten about that, to be honest. "...Are... you for real?"

"Yes. Now take it."

Callie and Marie looked at each other, thinking about it, before they quickly came to their decision. "...I think we're good."

"...Excuse me?"

"We performed because it makes _us_ happy. Not to make your image look good and to attend your sorry grump of a butt's school."

"...Plus, I hear that place has a bullying problem." Callie commented.

"...Sorry, Mr. Inkblot. But if we were to attend college... I don't think it'd be Inkblot. Even if it was for free."

Now Inkblot was getting pissed. "...This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, girls. Not just anyone can get into Inkblot."

"Thanks for letting us perform, Mr. Inkblot." Marie gave him a genuinely happy smile regardless. "It was a blast!" She then turned to walk away with Callie.

"STAY FRESH!" Callie again shouted as she followed her, earning more cheers from the other students.

Mr. Inkblot just stood there, dumbfounded, with the certificate still in his hand.

* * *

**A Couple Weeks Later**

Callie and Marie's hotel room was absolutely littered with pages and pages of sheet music at this point, as they had been collaborating on lots of original songs and dances ever since the success of the talent show. The girls had laid on their stomachs on the floor in front of their laptop, kicking their legs a bit.

Marie was holding a flash drive, playing with it in her fingers a bit. "...I wonder how that video Gramps recorded is holding up online."

"Didn't you upload it?" Callie responded.

"Yeah. But last time I looked it only had 2 views."

She shrugged. "...I can look at your InkTube page. Hold on." She opened the laptop's internet browser.

Marie was holding the flash drive close to her heart. She was feeling full of nostalgia today. "...Hey, Callie?"

"Yeah?" She said as she continued navigating the laptop.

"...Do you think that we can promise, that... no matter what happens to us... or to the Splatoon... like... maybe if we skyrocket to fame or something... do you think that we can promise to each other that we'll always be best friends?"

"Of course." She smiled. "Why wouldn't we be?"

"I dunno... I just... I really like doing this with you. Doing the Squid Sisters. And even without the whole Squid Sisters thing... I want to always be doing things with you..."

She looked at her. "...Honestly, I do feel the same way."

"Really?"

"Yeah, of course. I mean, these last few weeks have been scary, but they've been a blast. Between the Splatoon, and our music... no matter what happens... I wanna do it with you..."

She smiled.

Thinking about it, she suddenly held up her pinky. "...Best friends forever?"

She looked at it, before she took it with her own pinky. " _Squid Sisters_ forever."

She giggled. "It makes so little sense, we're not actually sisters... and yet people totally bought it."

"Eh. We're a lot like sisters." She shrugged.

"True..." She smiled and soon arrived on Marie's InkTube page. "Hey, I found it."

Marie turned back to the laptop, as Callie pulled up the video. To both of their genuine surprise, the video had... already hit a million views!?

"What the fuck!?"

"Holy shit!" Callie's eyes widened.

"...It... Gramps... I..." She took ahold of the laptop to see. The video had an overwhelming number of likes, and when she scrolled down to the comments, it seemed to be nothing but pure positive energy. Just like that, they had gone viral. And people loved them.

"...Remember what you said about skyrocketing to fame?" Callie broke the silence.

She looked at her. "...That was... talking best-case scenario..."

"...Was it really, though?"

They looked back at the screen in disbelief, before they looked at each other, completely baffled. Yet, smiles began to etch on their faces as the realization was still hitting them.

As they continued laying together, thinking about the future, the Squid Sisters outfits hung proudly in the closet behind them, right next to the NSS Hero Outfits.

* * *

**Years Later**

**Marie's Apartment**

Marie closed her laptop as she finished watching the **"TALENT_SHOW"** file, tearing up as she was overwhelmed with nostalgia. She couldn't put into words how much she missed those days, nor how much she loved Callie. She smiled warmly at the memories as she put her laptop aside, sighing.

Despite everything that had happened to them since then, through thick and thin, she and Callie were still best friends. They were the Squid Sisters.

**The End**

* * *

Josh sighed as he sat down at the school cafeteria with his tray of food. Word of his cheating habits had definitely gotten around the whole school at this point, and he only had one or two girlfriends left now. And, they didn't even share his lunch period. Shame. He felt so… alone. And quite defeated, honestly. Except, he wasn't _literally_ alone.

"Hey." Beth said to him, sitting further down the table from where he was.

He turned to her, a hopeful shine glazing his eyes. "…You gonna ask me out on a date?"

"No. I'm just asking if Callie and Marie are actually secret agents."

He paused. "...I don't… think so… I mean, they _are_ some kind of crazy badasses, but secret agents aren't real… Weirdo…" He turned back to his food, feeling smart for shutting her question down.

"...I hope if they are, I'll get to be the supervillain that kills them." She said, casually.

He shot her a somewhat concerned look, before he opted to ignore it and started eating.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, and that is all she wrote! Thank you guys so much for reading this shorter story all the way through, I personally had a blast writing it, given the more fun, comedic nature of this one. So, I'd love to hear your final thoughts on the overall story if you wanna leave a review, and as well, thank you to all who has already left comments and kudos already. It does mean a lot to me.
> 
> Callie and Marie shall be seen again when NSS:OD picks back up, which should hopefully be soon. I've had it on hold lately while I've been working on A3:E, but A3:E only has 3 chapters left upon me publishing this, so I'm getting ready to finally go full swing on different projects! With all that said, I'll hopefully be seeing you all around next time, and I hope you're all staying safe out there meanwhile. Bye! *waves*


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